Tennis: Wozniacki enjoys easy ride into round three
PARIS (Reuters) - Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki was done with hanging around on Wednesday as she walloped Georgina Garcia Perez 6-1 6-0 in double quick time on Wednesday to reach the French Open third round.
Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 30, 2018 Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki celebrates winning her second round match against Spain's Georgina Garcia Perez REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
With the first three matches scheduled on Court Philippe Chatrier on day four of the claycout major all going the distance - and lasting a combined eight hours 46 minutes - Wozniacki did not even make it into the arena till shortly before 7pm local time.
Fifty one minutes later the Danish second seed was offering Spain’s Garcia Perez a consolation handshake after she secured a round three meeting with French wildcard Pauline Parmentier.
Within those 51 minutes, Wozniacki won five of seven break points earned, belted seven winners, produced only eight unforced errors and won 53 of 78 points contested.
No wonder she was all smiles after extending her winning streak at the majors to nine matches.
“It was definitely a good match. I neutralised her serve, which was the main thing,” said the 27-year-old, whose best showing in Paris is two quarter-final appearances from 10 previous visits.
Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 30, 2018 Spain's Georgina Garcia Perez in action during her second round match against Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
“And then from the baseline, I felt like I was in control for most of it. It felt good out there.”
A year ago, Wozniacki routed Canadian qualifier Francoise Abanda 6-0 6-0 in the second round. But that was the only straight-sets win she enjoyed at the tournament where she was beaten in the quarter-finals by eventual champion Jelena Ostapenko.
This year, she is not only hoping to go much deeper in the tournament, but also wants to enjoy an easier ride at Roland Garros.
“There is no real easy matches ever, and especially on clay. So I’m just out there trying to keep my rhythm and trying to play my best tennis,” she added.
“I wish all my matches were like this and I could win with this scoreline.”