Fifth seed and former world number one Caroline Wozniacki weathered the storm of an up and down Timea Babos to reach the second round at Wimbledon 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 on Centre Court at SW19.
Looking to reach her first quarterfinal at Wimbledon, former world number one and fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki battled past big-hitting Hungarian Timea Babos 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 to reach the second round here at the All England Club. Added as the fourth match on Centre Court, Wozniacki handled the moment and the erratic power of Babos well, striking 17 winners to move 0n in a hard-fought hour and 40 minutes.
In the opening set, it was Wozniacki who began the stronger of the two, seizing the first break in the sixth game for 4-2 with a confident forehand winner after Wozniacki and Babos split holds of serve the prior five games. Babos’ aggressive play was rewarded the following game though as the Hungarian struck a forehand winner to snatch the break back for 4-3. The world number 42 consolidated the break to level the set at 4-all but that run was short lived as the fifth seed took care of her serve to inch ahead 5-4 in the first set. Serving to stay in the opening set, Babos’ errors continued to plague her as another awry forehand fell into the net to give Wozniacki the break and with it the set 6-4.
Babos set the tone early in the second set seizing the immediate break at her first time of asking to begin the set before Wozniacki and Babos held easily the next eight games, neither of the two facing a break point as the scoreline moved to 5-4. Looking to serve out the second set and force a decider, the Hungarian kept up her brand of aggressive tennis, holding routinely to level the match on her second time of asking off another Wozniacki error.
The unseeded Hungarian looked to be maintaining the powerful brand of tennis she brought to the second set, and she began strongly in the third set as she broke in the first game of the set to go up an early lead just like she did the previous set. Seemingly cruising to consolidate the break up 40-0, Babos’ nerves began to show as she double faulted and dumped two routine volleys into the net to gift back the break for 1-all.
Wozniacki started to force Babos to play more shots, staying firm as she held routinely before again breaking a tight Babos consolidating that advantage the following game to go up 4-1 as the finish line neared for the Dane. The former world number one continued to draw the errors from the unseeded Hungarian as another forehand error flew long to gift Wozniacki the 5-1 lead. Looking to serve out the match, the fifth seed made no mistake with her opportunity, serving out a place in the second round comfortably to move on 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
Following the match in a post-match interview, Wozniacki said of her first round performance, “I just kept fighting for every point. I was down a break in both sets but I was able to pull it together and was hitting the ball a bit better and more precise. I feel like I’m in good shape but the first round is always tricky,” the former world number one commented.
“She gave me a lot of competition today. I love playing on Centre Court, it’s definitely what we train for,” concluded the fifth-seeded Dane.
