Carla Suarez-Navarro gave her home country someone to be proud of at the Mutua Madrid Open late Monday night. The high ranking Spaniard won for the first time against Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 on Estadio Three at La Caja Magica.
The two met for the seventh time and fifth year consecutively with the Dane controlling the series. Wozniacki has beaten Suarez-Navarro four straight but not without tremendous adversity from the Spaniard. She has shown fight against the former number one taking her into tight races to the end of sets. With the home advantage in her hands, the chance to eliminate a strong contender early could be possible.
She broke Wozniacki in the opening game followed by a break of her own putting her opponent on the board. Despite not being in control on the serve, Suarez-Navarro managed to stay out front in hopes to keep the hold of the scoreboard and improve her first serve. Wozniacki had the same issues but her abilities to counter on the returns kept things on a break through four with little sign of change.
By the sixth game, a sign of fight for control was alive in the Spaniard who had serve nearly going for the first hold that would have given her the lead. It became the longest of the match before the Dane maintained the streak for a sixth consecutive break. The search for a service hold continued as possession moved alone with Wozniacki going for a chance in the seventh. She got to deuce with Suarez-Navarro before capturing the first hold of the match after three breaks.
Suarez-Navarro followed suit in the eighth but reversed the pace back to breaking Wozniacki for a chance to win the opening set. With great ball placement and power to handle the returns of the Dane, the Spaniard got the important set point winner to lead after 50 minutes. She had 13 winners against Wozniacki but were overshadowed by the unforced errors that troubled her on serve. Her opponent’s biggest problem was the second serve where she ended with just 11 percent success in the set.
The second started with an important hold for Wozniacki to be in front for the first time. It was the first of many long games to be played out against Suarez-Navarro who wanted to be in the lead and search for the straight sets win. The Dane was on point in the third with coach and father Piotr Wozniacki coming out to give her pointers. She answered with a triple break on the Spaniard to begin a short stint of dictation. It was soon a 4-1 hold for Wozniacki who hit all the right points to try and force a third set.
The Dane reached the point of forcing the match to the distance even after the Spaniard had another win under her belt but not enough to bring it all together. It was a strong victory for Wozniacki who finished it in 38 minutes with a dozen winners and very little unforced errors that made the difference and a clear improvement to her game.
Despite the sizable victory in the set, Wozniacki still had a challenge on her hands as each sat with a set in hand and the third all that was left to play. It began with the Dane showing leverage in the set but the Spaniard right on her tail. The fifth made the big difference for Suarez-Navarro who fought big to take control of the break and consolidated it with a love service hold. Another solid break had the home country cheering for her to seal her way into the third round. Wozniacki was crumbling under the pressure as the 28 year old served for the match. A tremendous victory for the Spaniard ended with a line drive return down the line that ended a 2 hour and 14 minute bout.
The victory puts her in a very interesting spot to take on Germany’s Laura Siegemund who won a WTA premier tournament over a week ago and has been on a hot streak ever since.
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