Caroline Wozniacki had to turn things around to get out of trouble at the Qatar Total Open Thursday night. The world number one avoided dropping the opening set to Monica Niculescu
dominating in the second to win 7-5, 6-1 on Centre Court at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex.
The world number one finds herself against the Romanian for an eighth time winning another to hold off Niculescu each time since 2006. With a quick finish of Carina Witthoeft on Wednesday the 27-year-old Dane hoped to have the same results of the past against the world number 92. The Romanian’s big win over Maria Sharapova and Magdalena Rybarikova had her with an amount of momentum and confidence that could give her a shot at making an upset possible. It would highly determine whether or not she gets a one up on Wozniacki or not.
The match began with Wozniacki holding her own followed by an early break of Niculescu. She answered back as the Dane had a slight hiccup in her offense that handed the Romanian three break points which she didn’t waste to get the win. The leverage remained with Wozniacki who broke Niculescu in the fourth to open a gap and recover her hold of the set. She made it 4-1 very quickly sending Niculescu’s coach out to speak with her to remedy the situation.
A lot of work from her came into the sixth game where fighting to keep Wozniacki back had its degree of difficulty. After gaining the AD point three times, Niculescu managed to hang on and etch out another win cutting the margin of Wozniacki’s in half. Only one stood in her way as the Dane had numerous errors in the seventh that handed the Romanian three break points to win her second straight. It set up a conference with Wozniacki and her father who gave her ideas on how to fix the problems on court and regain a footing.
She couldn’t find a way to stop her opponent on serve in the eighth evening the score and a chance at turning the tables on Wozniacki. She accomplished the comeback breaking the Dane in the ninth that had the world number one on the edge of going a set down. A big win on the break saved her from an early defeat forcing Niculescu to play more tennis in the first.
Wozniacki gained a two-game winning streak having found a way to attack the 30-year old’s weaknesses. She held her off for another pair of wins that handed her the set in 59 minutes showing significant improvements to her focus and handling of both sides of her game. Her second serve let her down landing just once on ten shots and the inability to win break points.
She made good of the second set taking a 2-0 lead with all the right components coming together for a strong show of dictation. She added another before Niculescu found a way to answer with the ball in hand. It gave Wozniacki a sign of her trying to come back which led the world number one to hold serve and go up 4-1. Another break set up Wozniacki with a shot at ending her night on court with the ball in her hands. She reached two match points in the seventh where a short rally ended her frustrations on court after 90 minutes of play.
With another one falling under her strengths, the top seed would face even bigger challenges as she awaited the winner between Johanna Konta and former number one Angelique Kerber on Friday.
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