Caroline Wozniacki kept her head down, fought for every point and completed a quick evening at the Australian Open Monday. The world number two handled things against Mihaela Buzarnescu in what finished in a 6-2, 6-3 win at Margaret Court Arena. Her speed and focus were enough to hold off any problems at Melbourne Park to secure a spot in the second round. It was the 101st career match win in grand slams for the 27 year old and certainly not the last.
The two met at the US Open last year where Wozniacki made quick work of the Romanian in the first round in New York. With the energy she has been carrying since Singapore and Auckland put her in a good spot to challenge to be world number one again. Despite losing yet another final, the veteran had focus ready to get done with her first round and keep it together going further. Buzarnescu went deep in Hobart last week despite losing in the final. The confidence would give her hope to pull off the big upset but it would be up to her to gain ground fast.
She didn’t see it that way as Wozniacki started things off with a serve to love on Buzarnescu. The Romanian held her own end but wasn’t to a high degree like the world number two. Wozniacki answered by holding again and then took off with another pair of wins that included a second serve to love. Buzarnescu got another service hold but it was all the second seed as she blasted through games to lead 5-2. There was very little chance of Buzarnescu making good of a comeback and she saw that come to fruition as the Dane rallied to the break to bring the first set to a close in 29 minutes. She served at 70 percent recording only five winners in the eight games played.
She opened the second set adding her fifth consecutive game win against the Romanian. When the Dane reached three break points, Buzarnescu decided to make the final rally one where she might rally back. Wozniacki dealt with every return no matter the effort put in and shutout her opponent to lead two games to love. A surprising break came to the 29-year-old who held off the number two seed and consolidated it with another hold of serve that ended with an ace down the line. She added a double break on Wozniacki that had her out front for the first time hoping to continue testing the number two seed.
The Dane had enough of giving away points and got back ahead on the score to lead 4-3 after her service hold success. She attacked the Romanian’s game putting a lot of power in her returns that got the best of her opponent. The game ended with a solid smash from the second seed putting her one step from the match win. With the serve in hand, Wozniacki cruised to victory with control that gave her two match points before winning it in 1 hour and 11 minutes.
“I knew it was going to be tough,” Wozniacki said to Ian Cullen during her on court interview. “She’s had a great year last year making it into the top 50 and making the finals last week. I knew it was going to be tough but I kept my head down and just fought for every point.”
She’ll fight for many more as she preps for her second-round match on Wednesday facing Croatia’s Jana Fett who won by retirement.
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