Caroline Wozniacki had an uphill fight on her hands but got the job done at the French Open Monday. The former number one dealt with some adversity at Court Suzanne Lenglen but handled the skills of 17 year old Jaimee Fourlis of Australia to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 on the grounds of Roland Garros in Paris.
This was a first time meeting for the 17 year old Aussie who nailed down a chance to qualify for the main draw. She has a very large obstacle in her way taking on the former number one who dealt with a right shoulder injury that seems to still get the best of her. Taking the smart approach, the Dane bowed out of the opening round at Strasbourg to take time off in order to be competitive in the year’s second grand slam. With this being her tenth appearance, the hope to dealing with the opposition stood as the main question.
She witnessed as the youngster came out with a good opening serve before experiencing the power of her opponent. She continued to hold her own in the third but the Dane forced the first deuce of the match with Fourlis. She answered the call and dug in on the rally to beat Wozniacki for her first lead in a grand slam. It was short lived as the Dane leveled herself with the 17 year old before breaking Fourlis for the lead in the fifth.
She remained in control winning on serve in the sixth but her two game margin was not meant to be steady as the teen won the seventh putting her a game down instead. The fight she had on court was enough to help her get into deuce with Wozniacki on serve who couldn’t find the shots to fluster Fourlis. Instead, the teen had answers in the rallies that leveled the set at four all.
Well aware of the fight from Fourlis, Wozniacki did work to earn a break putting increased pressure on her adversary. It was a challenge the Australian accepted as she forced deuce with Wozniacki before losing it on the break ending the set for her in 48 minutes. The difference maker for the victory was the return percentage of Fourlis which was very much struggling against Wozniacki who had much to show for her offense.
The second was a complete turnaround in favor of Fourlis who had her offense up to speed attacking the Dane with all her might. She used her quick skills to build a 3-1 hold in the set in order to show her strengths. She continued to be the dominant on in the set holding Wozniacki to her lone game while she inched her way slowly to the set. The sixth became the longest game of the match as Fourlis was in no way giving up in her search for another break.
She was forced to do so as Wozniacki found her way to ending the seven minute game after just two breaks. The victory only made her want to see a tie occur and regain a footing in the match. She picked up a pair of games but it wasn’t enough to be back in control of everything.
Fourlis didn’t allow her such a chance and ran her way to taking the next two games that gave her a good chance at pulling off an upset going into the deciding set after 50 minutes.
Her first serve percentage and the second serve were at a stance that took the game to Wozniacki and made her pay the price. She had 17 winners against the former number one that made it a clear statement of her skills as a teenager in the sport.
Wozniacki was very much aware of what was happening and made a big change to counter the teen’s lucky streak. She opened the third with an attack on the backhand returns of Fourlis that gave her a two game margin. She added a third in the form of a love service that had her well in play to dictate. The young Aussie recorded her first service hold in the fourth but couldn’t stop Wozniacki going on. She was down 1-4 with the set and an end to her tournament getting closer by the minute.
She managed to win another service hold digging in on deuce to do it but with the ball back in Wozniacki’s hands, the pressure was heavy to stay defense against her. It proved difficult after the seventh as Wozniacki played for the match blasting away at Fourlis’s serve to set up two match points. She took three chances at getting it done with the final one being enough on an unforced error ending 1 hour and 54 minutes of play.
While it was like any other day, Wozniacki felt fortunate to be able to withstand the talents of her young opponent in order to move on. She’ll prepare for her second round match facing the winner between Canada’s Francoise Abanda and French rookie Tessah Andrianjafitrimo.
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