Tennis player, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark speaks with boyfriend Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland during day three of the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final at the Antalya GC on October 11, 2012 in Antalya, Turkey.
(October 10, 2012 – Source: Warren Little/Getty Images Europe)
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Caroline Wozniacki and Roberta Vinci had easy straight-set victories Tuesday in their first round-robin matches at the season-ending Tournament of Champions.
The top-seeded Wozniacki defeated Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan 6-2, 6-2 in 60 minutes while it took Vinci five minutes longer to rout Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 6-2.
Wozniacki converted all five of her break points and only lost her serve once, in the second set.
“I always try to finish my matches in two sets and I am happy that this time it worked,” said Wozniacki, who is coming off titles in Seoul and Moscow. “I will try to finish this season with a hat trick.”
The fourth-seeded Vinci dominated throughout, breaking five times. The two traded breaks to start the second set, but the Italian then jumped out to a 4-1 lead to take control.
Wozniacki will play Vinci on Wednesday, with the winner likely clinching a spot in Saturday’s semifinals. The first two in each group advance.
In the other group, Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova came from behind to dispatch sixth-seeded Zheng Jie of China 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Pironkova took a 3-0 lead in the third set before being forced into a tiebreaker.
The Tournament of Champions features the six highest-ranked players who have won a title during the season but did not qualify for the WTA Championships, along with two wild cards.
It is the final event on the WTA calendar.
Tsonga edges past Benneteau at Paris Masters
PARIS (AP) — Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the third round of the Paris Masters with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (2) win over Julien Benneteau.
The 2008 champion needed nearly 2 1/2 hours to get past Benneteau and was forced into a final-set tiebreaker after failing to serve out the match.
Earlier, qualifier Jerzy Janowicz of Poland pulled off another upset when he beat 13th-seeded Marin Cilic 7-6 (6), 6-2 to set up a potential third-round match against U.S. Open champion Andy Murray.
Janowicz, who knocked out 19th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round on Monday, did even better against the big-serving Croat and never faced a break point.
It was the 21-year-old Janowicz’s first victory against a top-15 player.
