Wozniacki wraps up Tokyo rematch vs Pavlyuchenkova, powers though in Beijing
BEIJING, China - Caroline Wozniacki faced few problems in her second match at the China Open, knocking out fellow Toray Pan Pacific Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-2, 6-2, to make it into the round of 16 in Beijing.
Wozniacki continued her impressive play on hardcourts - increasing her tour-leading number of wins to 36 - to close out a rainy Monday night after one hour and 18 minutes on court.
"Pavlyuchenkova is such a tough opponent," she said after the match. "We had to play very late today in cold conditions, so the ball was reacting a little differently. It took some adjusting from both of us."
Wozniacki had only lost once to the big-hitting Russian in seven previous meetings - that loss coming back in 2012 - and played vintage tennis against her to win her first title of 2017 in Tokyo, continuing her streak of winning at least one title a year since 2008.
"A final is always so special, but it’s tricky to play such a good opponent so early in the tournament, so I’m happy I won it."
While rain pushed the schedule back for some, the Dane began on schedule for the night session on the National Tennis Stadium and played a relatively clean match, striking 17 winners to 22 unforced errors to shake off a tough early loss at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open to Maria Sakkari last week.
"I thought I managed to stay cool, serve well throughout the match. I was really pleased with that."
Standing between the two-time US Open finalist and a spot in the quarterfinals will be either No.12 seed Petra Kvitova or American Varvara Lepchenko, who recovered from a set down to defeat Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko in three.
