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| Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark at full stretch during her game against Samantha Stosur |
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki cruised past error-prone Samantha Stosur 6-3 6-2 to reach the second round of the U.S. Open on Tuesday.
The Dane, who is the highest seed left in the draw after top seed Simona Halep fell in the first round on Monday, needed less than 90 minutes to get past the Australian, who committed 34 unforced errors and eight double faults.
The quick and comfortable win was a relief for the 28-year-old Wozniacki, who was able to get out of the blistering New York heat in relatively short order and save energy for her second-round match against Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko.
“I’m just thinking I’m on the beach with a margarita in my hand,” Wozniacki said when asked about coping with the heat during an on-court interview.
The second seed showed no sign of the knee injury that forced her to retire midway through her match against Kiki Bertens at the Cincinnati Open earlier this month, moving well throughout the match.
The veteran Stosur, the tournament’s 2011 champion, briefly looked like she might deliver a second big upset in the women’s draw when she broke Wozniacki early in the first set but the Dane broke right back to take a 4-3 lead she did not relinquish.
The second set was more straightforward as Stosur struggled to control her forehand on a hot day that sent balls flying and overheated fans into the shady sections of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Twice U.S. Open finalist and New York resident Wozniacki advanced when Stosur double faulted on match point.
“I’m happy that I got through this one,” she said. “I’m going to celebrate the win today and tomorrow think about the next one.”
Women’s Singles results: Day 3, Wednesday, Aug. 29
No. 3 Sloane Stephens def. Anhelina Kalinina, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
No. 7 Elina Svitolina def. Tatjana Maria, 6-2, 6-3
No. 8 Karolina Pliskova def. Ana Bogdan, 6-2, 6-3
Ekaterina Makarova def. No. 9 Julia Goerges, 7-6(10), 6-3
No. 12 Garbine Muguruza vs. Karolina Muchova
No. 15 Elise Mertens def. Vera Lapko, 6-2, 6-0
No. 16 Venus Williams def. Camila Giorgi, 6-4, 7-5
No. 17 Serena William def. Carina Witthoeft, 6-2, 6-2
No. 18 Ashleigh Barty def. Lucie Safarova, 7-5, 6-3
No. 19 Anastasija Sevastova def. Claire Liu, 6-3, 6-1
No. 23 Barbora Strycova def. Lara Arruabarrena, 6-0, 6-1
Victoria Azarenka def. No. 25 Daria Gavrilova, 6-1, 6-2
Sofia Kenin def. No. 32 Maria Sakkari, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
Kaia Kanepi def. Jil Teichmann, 6-4, 6-3
Qiang Wang def. Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-3, 6-1
Rebecca Peterson def. Vania King, 6-3, 6-1
Women’s Singles schedule: Day 4, Thursday, Aug. 30
No. 4 Angelique Kerber vs. Johanna Larsson
No. 5 Petra Kvitova vs. Yafan Wang
No. 6 Caroline Garcia vs. Monica Puig
No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko vs. Taylor Townsend
No. 11 Daria Kasatkina vs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich
No. 13 Kiki Bertens vs. Francesca Di Lorenzo
No. 14 Madison Keys vs. Bernarda Pera
No. 20 Naomi Osaka vs. Julia Glushko
No. 22 Maria Sharapova vs. Sorana Cirstea
No. 26 Aryna Sabalenka vs. Vera Zvonareva
No. 29 Dominika Cibulkova vs. Su-Wei Hsieh
No. 30 Carla Suarez Navarro vs. Kristina Mladenovic
Katerina Siniakova vs. Ajla Tomljanovic
Aleksandra Krunic vs. Kirsten Flipkens
Eugenie Bouchard vs. Marketa Vondrousova
