Caroline Wozniacki had a tough finish but came out victorious at the US Open Monday night. The former number one held her ground against Mihaela Buzarnescu to win in straight sets 6-1, 7-5 on Grandstand court. It became Wozniacki’s 100th grand slam match win in her career.
The Romanian put in a lot of work during the second part of the hard court season where her results landed her into the main draw with a three match winning streak. She still had a big obstacle against the 2014 US Open finalist who has been stopped in six tournament finals. The Dane showed little struggle in her quest for titles but getting the lock down against opponents during big moments has been a major problem for the 27 year old. Wozniacki took the best move after her loss to world number one Karolina Pliskova and focused on making the final slam count. Her actions against the 29 year old making her debut would be very important to surpass the first round.
She took a big 3-0 lead giving Buzarnescu a lesson in world class grand slam tennis. Just when it looked as if she would get the double break, Buzarnescu pulled off a hold for the first time avoiding the bagel from the Dane. Wozniacki continued her march to victory taking the next two games that set her up for set point. It was a breeze for the fifth seed reaching three set points to win after 25 minutes. Wozniacki had a solid first serve percentage with it taking a big hit on the returns of Buzarnescu. With that and 19 unforced errors, getting a grip in the second set would be troubling with the pace of the former finalist.
She saw another run from Wozniacki who gained a 2-0 lead before getting a hold in the third. It was the start of positive results as the Romanian began to break her opponent in more ways than one. She secured a break before another hold gave her the lead at 3-2. Wozniacki put the Romanian on hold when it came to winning more games and making the set hers. In response, she took the next two game to regain control. The Romanian brought a surprise attack to the Dane who took a triple break before securing the victory to level back at four apiece.
Buzarnescu went back to staying ahead of Wozniacki and made her stance when attempting to push the set forward. Wozniacki made it very difficult with the forehand service game ending with a long rally that ended with a long ball behind the baseline of the former number one. The five all tie led them to the brink of the set which Wozniacki felt most comfortable dealing with. She put pressure on Buzarnescu to take the 6-5 hold, serving for the match.
Wozniacki had control briefly in the 12th but a fight from Buzarnescu allowed her to reach a break point chance. The Dane saved game point for deuce and after a break, she clinched the victory with a ball behind the baseline ending the match in 1 hour and 21 minutes.
“I know her very well from the junior years,” Wozniacki said after her match. “We played a lot against each other and with each other in doubles. I knew she was gonna be a tough one and first round is always difficult to make it through and I got the job done.”
She’ll face Ekaterina Makarova in the second round on Wednesday preparing for the tournament to get harder to a certain degree.
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