Wozniacki Cruises Past Stephens Into Aegon Quarterfinals
While a number of top players on the women’s side are off this week as they prepare for Wimbledon, some are participating in the Aegon International event in Eastbourne, England. Two of those players were in action against each other on Wednesday, as eighth-seeded Denmark native Caroline Wozniacki took on American Sloane Stephens.
Wozniacki entered the match with a 4-0 record over Stephens and had won those four matches without losing a set, but had struggled in recent weeks as her public breakup with golfer Rory Mcilroy stole headlines. After defeating Australian Samantha Stosur in the opening round, Wozniacki carried that momentum into her second round bout with Stephens.
She got a break point early in the first set and never looked back. Using a powerful and consistent serve, the Dane held her ground and served out the rest of the set to take the opener 6-3.
The second frame mirrored the first as an early break point once again put Wozniacki in control. As was the case in the first set, she kept Stephens racing baseline to baseline and served out for a 6-3 second set win and the straight set victory.
“Sloane is a tough opponent so I’m really pleased about the way the match went,” said Wozniacki. “I’m through to the next round and hopefully I can get at least one more match out here on the grass. I felt like I played very consistently. I ran down everything really well and I just tried to take the ball as early as possible.”
Consistent is just the word to describe her victory as she committed only 12 unforced errors in contrast to 32 for Stephens. She put together a 79 percent first-serve percentage including smashing seven winners.
She now moves on to face Italian Camilia Giorgi who defeated Johanna Konta in her match Wednesday. Americans Madison Keys and Lauren Davis also advanced on Wednesday, beating Elena Vesnina and Daniela Hantuchova, respectively.
