Caroline Wozniacki showed plenty of determination to win at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. The former winner of the tournament advanced to the semis completing a straight sets win over Magda Linette 6-4, 6-3 at Ariake Coliseum Friday night.
The two Polish natives have never faced one another before making it a big moment for both parties. While Wozniacki searches for more points to get back to where she was, Linette reached her first WTA quarterfinal hoping to upset the former 2010 champion in Tokyo. Wozniacki hasn’t had it easy playing six sets where she was lucky to get out of trouble against her opponents. With Linette sitting as a lower ranked opponent than the last two, defeating her will be of most importance to make playing in a semifinal.
She began struggling quickly sitting a game down on Wozniacki who played a solid opening service. It soon turned into a 3-0 rout leaving some to wonder of Linette taking an egg. She avoided it on her second attempt of service ending the winning streak of the Dane. She gained a second against the former number one but it was all she would get in the set. Wozniacki pushed back hard increasing her margin to three games.
Linette had one chance to stay alive in the set serving up Wozniacki some difficulty. The former number one answered promptly to get on set point. She failed to put the cap on the game allowing Linette confidence. She used it to land an ace on Wozniacki during the deuce draw to end the eighth. She began building on her recent success and holds off the Dane for yet another game that put her within reach of a critical tie in the tenth.
Wozniacki knew that something had to be done to end the streak that Linette had built up all of the sudden. She made her intentions to remain the stronger of the two and locked down the set win taking the set in 40 minutes. Though the two had similar first serve percentages, Wozniacki did better on winning points off of it where she scored 18 of 20 while Linette tallied 12 of 22. Despite the low numbers, it was an early indication that more of the best would come from the Polish player.
She led the way in the set putting pressure on Wozniacki to match or outduel the Polish star. For five games, Linette conducted quite a stance in the set making her intentions clear to force a third deciding set if necessary. She lost control of things in the sixth as Wozniacki captured the break and consolidated it with a win in the seventh regaining the lead.
Wozniacki pressed forward taking a 5-3 hold in the set trying to get through to victory without any challenges remaining. The Dane found her offense frustrating her throughout the ninth but somehow fought back to recover. It was a big first serve that helped Wozniacki force Linette into a tough spot earning the two key points that gave her the win in 1 hour and 22 minutes.
“She’s been playing really well lately, and she’s played a lot of matches, and she’s tough,” Wozniacki said about Linette during her on-court interview. “She’s a good friend of mine and we practice a lot so we know each others game. I’m just happy that I was able to keep tough and serve it out in the end.” Tough is the word that describes her semifinal match playing Agnieszka Radwanska on Saturday.
Photo by: Toshifumi Kitamura/Getty Images
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