Doha: First Wins For Wozniacki, Zvonareva
Wozniacki hunts her first major trophy of the year, going top of the Maroon group in Doha after Day 1
Wozniacki needed just 53 minutes in order to send kisses towards the Khalifa crowd. WTA Championships started very well for the Dane, who is top seeded in Doha and fifth-ranked Samantha Stosur. Six times winner this year, the Dane smashed Elena Dementieva, who entered the tournament seventh. However, Caroline finished the Russian in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 to go top of the maroon group where she is followed by Stosur. The Australian defeated Francesca Schiavone, winner of the French Open and Barcelona tour in spring. Stosur proved to be too strong for the Italian, whom she beat in straight sets, as well, 6-4, 6-4.
Still stripped of any Grand Slam trophy, the Dane proves to be able to collect many other titles that help her go top of the WTA standings. She is able to do this even in Doha. Dementieva played one of her weakest games at the WTA Championship where she competed ten times so far. Said Wozniacki: “A very nice start, definitely. I’m very happy to be through this first match. It’s always tough to start a new tournament. Against Elena, we have had so many tough matches in the past. It’s nice to get this one.” The Dane won five break points to Dementieva to lose in the same time eight points in her seven service games. Indeed, it was a very good start for Wozniacki who not only that defeated powerful Dementieva, but she did it easily. The 20-year-old Dane is now at her 60th win of the season in a season during which she triumphed in Ponte Vedra Beach, home in Copenhagen, Montreal, New Haven, Tokyo and Beijing earlier this month. Dementieva acknowledged her plan didn’t work in front of the Dane. She declared she only wanted to get Wozniacki out of the comfort zone. Meawhile, the top seed would play very well from the baseline. But the Russian would put finally the loss on her lack of focus.
It was the same day 1 in Doha that saw Stosur surpassing fourth favorite Schiavone. Alongside Caroline Wozniacki and Elena Dementieva, Stosur and Schiavone are part of the maroon group which is led now by the Dane thanks to her easy win. It was an outrageous comeback for the Australian, who simply demolished the Italian winning six games in a row when Schiavone was leading 4-0 in the first set. So, despite she looked to start the match slowly, Stosur proved what she is capable of. Stunned, Schiavone capitalized in the second set, too, not to keep many chances for the last terms. Both players returned to the WTA Championship to play singles this time. Stosur won the competition in 2005 and 2006 when she was pairing Lisa Raymond. Stosur and Schiavone played the Roland Garros final this year, the Italian winning the Grand Slam in straight sets 7-6, 6-4.
Concerning the white group, this is led by Vera Zvonareva for the moment. The Russian passed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, who came sixth seeded at the $4.55 million Doha, in straight sets 6-3, 6-0 as the second-ranked Zvonareva, looks good in the debut. She would win her eight consecutive set in front of the Serbian. Zvonareva hit 28 winners and committed 15 unforced errors. The head-to-head confrontation between the two was 6-6 before the Russian would go ahead with one win.
Jankovic considered that her illness affected her poor tennis. She still is under medical treatment. He mentioned in the same time that during the game against Zvonareva, she was facing breath problems and started to feel a bit dizzy. The white group is also completed by third WTA Kim Clijsters, winner of the US Open and Victoria Azarenka. The day 1 reserves Clijsters and Azarenka meeting.
