Daniela Hantuchova upsets top seed Caroline Wozniacki in third round – French Open 2011
Slovak Daniela Hantuchova ousted top seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets in their third round matchup at the 2011 Roland Garros on Friday, May 27th.
Despite her 0-3 trail in the head-to-head against the reigning world number, Hantuchova proved to be strong for the Dane as she reduced the deficit in their third meeting. Taking a little over an hour, the Slovak registered a 6-1,
6-3 victory over the top seed.
As she won the toss, Hantuchova opened serve and plausibly held it to put herself on the scoreboard. Although Wozniacki soon followed to level the score at 1-1, this was the only game she won for the next eleven games.
Combining her powerful winners with several errant strokes from the Dane, Hantuchova reeled off five straight games to clinch a breadstick victory for herself. The Slovak hit a whopping 91% winning percentage on first serve which
included twelve winners as she went one up in the set score.
Carrying over her form in the second set, Hantuchova continued her assault as she caught lucky breaks in the first and third game to secure an early 4-0 lead. However, a break later Wozniacki was able to reduce the deficit as she
trailed 3-4. However, quick to bounce back, the Slovak capitalised on unforced errors from the Dane to clinch the set 6-3 and seal her straight sets victory.
Hantuchova moves on ahead to play Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round next week. Kuznetsova moved ahead after suffering a loss of only four games to defeat her third round opponent, Canadian Rebecca Marino 6-4, 6-0.
Also joining these two in the next round is defending champion, Francesca Schiavone. The fifth seeded Italian moved ahead at the event after her opponent, Chinese Shuai Peng retired from the event due to an injury.
Schiavone was leading the match 6-3, 1-2 when the twenty ninth seed retired. Schiavone moves on ahead to play Jelena Jankovic in the next round.
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