Wozniacki Wins and Sharapova Loses on Day One of WTA Championships
Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark rallied to defeat Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, in their opening round-robin match at the 2011 WTA Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic and U.S. Open winner Sam Stosur from Australia also began the group stage with victories. Kvitova defeated Vera Zvonareva of Russia, 6-2, 6-4, in the Red Group—which also includes Wozniacki and Radwanska—while Stosur defeated Russia’s Maria Sharapova, 6-1, 7-5, in the White Group.
Wozniacki broke to go up 5-4 in the third set and got the victory when Radwanska netted a forehand on the Dane’s second match point. Wozniacki had also wasted three set points in the first set of a match where both players struggled to hold serve on the indoor hard court. The second set alone featured six breaks of serve, with Wozniacki getting four of them.
World number two-ranked Sharapova, who played her first match since pulling out of the quarterfinals in Tokyo with an ankle injury last month, was thoroughly outplayed by Stosur in their opening match. Stosur breezed through the first set without facing a break point. In the second set, Sharapova fought back and took a 3-0 lead, but Stosur held and eventually fought back to win in straight sets. Sharapova finished with six double faults and only hit 59 percent of her first serves—compared to 74 percent for Stosur.
The top two players in each group advance to the semifinals. This is the first time the tournament is held in Istanbul, after being held in Doha, Qatar, the past three years.
