Caroline Wozniacki topples Mona Barthel to set-up date with Serena Williams – Mutua Madrid Open 2012
Former world number one, Caroline Wozniacki, trashed the German starlet, Mona Barthel, in straight sets at the Mutua Madrid Open 2012 on Tuesday. She jolted down a 6-4, 7-6(2) victory against the 21-year-old German to breeze into the round of 16 at this
WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Mandatory event held in Madrid.
The Danish number one, Wozniacki, showed top notch skills to outfox Barthel in one hour and 34 minutes. The Dane squandered double match points at 6-4, 5-4 40-15 but pulled out the match after outshining her rival in the tie-breaker.
After plucking this match, the sixth seed not only improved to a 2-0 lifetime in the head-to-head series against Barthel but also powered into the third round where the American number one, Serena Williams, awaits her.
"I saw Mona play a few times this year and she's playing well, and I played her in Copenhagen last year, so I knew what I was going up against," the ecstatic Dane was quoted afterwards. "She plays fast and strong, and I knew there wouldn't be a lot of long
rallies. I had to serve well, return well, stay in there and just fight."
Wozniacki made a strong start at Park Manzanares and drew the first blood in the third game to jump to a 3-1 lead. In spite of losing her edge in the sixth game, she capitalised on another break chance in the very next game and consequently bagged the opener
with a 6-4 win.
Sixth ranked Dane kept her rhythm in the following set and earned the desiderated break in the opening game to take the initial lead. Despite gifting away her serve in the proceeding game, she broke her opponent’s serve again in the fifth game and was serving
for the match in the tenth game. However, she failed to capitalise on double match points she clobbered and subsequently imposed a tie-breaker. Wozniacki leaped to a 4-0 lead in it before sealing the set with a 7-6(2) score line.
Next in line for Wozniacki is her fellow former world number one, Williams. The American crushed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia with a breadstick.
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