Wozniacki Eases Into Malaysian Quarterfinals
Caroline Wozniacki rolled into the quarterfinals of the Malaysian Open, defeating China’s Lin Zhu 6-4, 6-1 on Thursday. The fifth-ranked Dane fired seven aces and gave herself 10 break point chances to cruise to the win in just one hour and 15 minutes.
“She played very aggressively, very flat. But I served very well, ran down a lot of balls and kept fighting,” said Wozniacki. “It’s always difficult when you play someone for the first time and it took me awhile to figure her out. To her credit, she played very well and I had to work hard in the first set.”
Wozniacki converted on three of those break point chances and took control of the match in the second set.
Up next for the Dane is Carina Witthoeft. The unseeded German took out fifth-seeded Czech Klara Koukalova 7-6(3), 6-0 to advance Thursday.
The other second-round match on Thursday saw Chinese Taipei’s Su-Wei Hsieh edge Japan’s Misa Eguchi 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. Hseih won the title three years ago after coming through the qualifying tournament.
“Last year, I was under more pressure. I missed out in qualifying for the main draw at a few tournaments and my coach sent me to play an ITG and win a few rounds,” said Hsieh. “Today, I was a little nervous in the second set, trying to push the ball in and hitting it wider and kept just missing. In the third set I tried to hit the ball harder and I played much better.”
Fourth-seeded Jarmila Gajdosova, sixth-seeded Kurumi Nara and eigth-seeded Julia Goerges all pushed through to the quarterfinals in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
