Victorious Wozniacki feels wrath of French Open fans
World number one Caroline Wozniacki braved the ire of the Roland Garros crowd to defeat Canadian qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak in the French Open second round on Wednesday.
Having won the first set 6-3, Wozniacki found herself 6-3 down in a second-set tie-break when an attempted lob was called long by a line judge, handing Wozniak three set points and a huge chance to level the match.
Wozniacki, the 20-year-old top seed, took exception with the decision and a stand-off with the umpire ensued, prompting jeers to ring out around Court Philippe Chatrier.
The delay appeared to unsettle Wozniak, however, and when play resumed she conceded the next five points in succession to hand Wozniacki a 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) victory that took her into the last 32.
"The ball was going very fast, it wasn't slow, and if both the linesman and the umpire didn't see it when it was going like this, I wanted the linesman to confirm it was the mark that was shown," explained Wozniacki.
"It would be nice if the linesman could show where the mark is. It's not such a big problem. If he shows the mark, fine, that's enough."
The Dane will now meet Slovakian 28th seed Daniela Hantuchova, who overcame Italy's Sara Errani in straight sets.
Australian eighth seed Samatha Stosur, who lost to Francesca Schiavone in last year's final, crushed Romanian 19-year-old Simona Halep 6-0, 6-2 in her second-round match.
The 27-year-old world number six takes on Gisela Dulko in the third round, after the unseeded Argentine comfortably beat Bulgarian 32nd seed Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 6-2.
Stosur and Dulko have previously met twice at the Madrid Masters, with the Australian prevailing on both occasions, but Stosur remains wary of the Argentine's clay-court proficiency.
"It's a good match-up for me," she said. "We played a three-setter in Madrid (earlier this month), which I was able to get through (3-6, 6-2, 6-2).
"We know each other's games quite well. It will come down to who can play better on the clay."
Germany's 17th seed Julia Goerges, on the comeback trail after a back injury, booked her place in the last 32 by beating Czech Lucie Safarova in three sets, 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Schiavone, the fifth seed, is in action later on Wednesday, when she takes on Russian world number 101 Vesna Dolonts on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2009 champion and 14th seed, defeated Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-1, 6-1.
Third-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva tackles German qualifier Sabine Lisicki later Wednesday.
Post new comment