Wozniacki survives first-round scare

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:03

The world’s 16th-ranked player, Wozniacki is looking for a better performance in her return to Tokyo. Two weeks ago, the 18-year-old Dane lost in straight sets to Katarina Srebotnik in the opening round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

Wozniacki also struggled last week in Beijing, where she lost her first-round match with Anabel Medina Garrigues. She will next face Japanese wild card Ayumi Morita in the second round.

Third-seeded Zheng Zie had been playing well on home soil in China recently, but that run of success came to an abrupt end here on Tuesday when she was stunned, 6-1 6-2, by Russian qualifier Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the opening round.

A semi-finalist in Guangzhou and Beijing during the past two weeks, Zheng reached a career-best ranking of 26th on Monday.

However, she struggled against the 17-year-old, converting just 11 of 31 first-serve points. Ranked 76th in the world, Pavlyuchenkova converted seven of eight break points and closed out the match in an hour to set up a meeting with fellow qualifier Rika Fujiwara of Japan.

The other surprise was turned in by Klara Zakopalova, who ousted the fourth-seeded Maria Kirilenko 4-6 6-2 7-5 to earn her first win in four meetings with the Russian.

The unseeded Czech, who faces Marta Domachowska of Poland next, has not won a title since claiming her second at the Tier IV event in Portoroz three years ago.

Sixth seed Shahar Peer of Israel, a potential semi-final opponent for the number one Wozniacki, posted a decisive 6-3 6-1 victory over Japan’s Kimiko Date Krumm.

Other seeds moving into the second round were number seven Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand and eighth-seeded Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak.

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