Fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki defeated reigning NCAA women's singles champion Jamie Loeb 6-2, 6-0 in her opening match of the 2015 US Open. Wozniacki will play the winner of the match between Christina McHale and Petra Cetkovska next.

Great Play from Loeb but Wozniacki Just Too Good

Wozniacki began the match with a routine service hold to 15. Loeb, who was making her professional debut on the biggest tennis court in the world, inevitably had a few nerves in the opening stages of the match. However, the NCAA champion was able to hold her own against the world number four. The 20-year-old hits very well off of both wings and surprised Wozniacki with some great angles. As a result, Loeb was able to fend off two break points to level the match at one-all, much to the delight of the American crowd. In the next game, Jamie was going for her shots and raced out to a 2-0 lead, but Caroline clawed her way back to hold serve. Now up 2-1, Wozniacki had a feel for Loeb's game and knew exactly what she needed to do - be consistent.

The American was going for her shots but she was unable to execute them on a consistent basis. Because of this, Wozniacki capitalized on her second break point chance of the game to go up 3-1. 3-1 quickly became 4-1 as the Dane began to put some more pace on her first serve that was too hot to handle for her American counterpart. To Loeb's credit, she continued to go for her shots, despite the one break deficit. As they say, fortune favors the brave, and that's exactly what happened to the American. With a hold to 15, Loeb had won her second game of the match. However, Wozniacki refused to get broken as she held for 5-2. In the next game, the Dane took advantage of her opponent's inexperience and unforced errors to win the first set 6-2, on her second set point.

Dominant Second Set from Wozniacki to Win the Match

The second set began just like the first with Wozniacki holding to 15 to go up 1-0. In the next game, Loeb faced two break points just like she did in the opening set, but this time she was unable to save any of them as Wozniacki broke to go up 2-0 in the match. From there, the former world number one continued to stamp her authority on this match. With another hold to 15, the Dane consolidated the break to take a 3-0 lead. Loeb was up 40-15 in the next game but she was just unable to crawl over the line and Wozniacki made her pay for it. Caroline only needed one break point to get the important double break. Now up 4-0, Wozniacki held to love to extend her lead to 5-0. At this stage in the match, Jamie just wanted to win another game. However, Wozniacki refused to surrender a game in the second set. After saving three game points, the Dane converted her second match point to complete a comprehensive win over the young American 6-2, 6-0.

Photo credit: Getty Images

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About the author
Max Gao
Max Gao is a sports writer specializing in tennis and the Toronto Blue Jays, who has also written on the Rogers Cup website as a guest contributor in the past.