Thank you for following this 2018 Roland Garros win by Caroline Wozniacki. This is Jakub Bobro saying "see you next time"!
7-6(2) 6-1: Caroline Wozniacki was pushed in her first set at the 2018 French Open, but after analyzing how to deal with Collins' aggressive game, the second seed dominated. For her first match at the French Open, Collins performed very admirably and continues to excite crowds wherever she goes. No. 2 seed Wozniacki will now face qualifier Georgine Garcia-Perez.
6-1: Collins kept on fighting against the brilliant Wozniacki and got to 40-30 on her serve, but Wozniacki answered with a return winner to go to deuce. Collins kept it going after a volley crosscourt, getting an advantage that Wozniacki again answered with an incredible return. Collins hit a down-the-line backhand wide, giving Wozniacki her first match point. Wozniacki tried to end the match too soon and hit a forehand unforced error. Collins won the point with a drop shot to give herself an advantage but Wozniacki took it back to deuce. Wozniacki got her second match point after a return winner. Wozniacki stopped to point after a long forehand from Collins. Umpire came down and confirmed Wozniacki's assumption, giving Wozniacki the match.
5-1: Wozniacki remained unshaken on her next service game, and though Collins gained some confidence, Wozniacki managed to keep her at an arm's length. Wozniacki won the game after a deuce, winning the game and forcing Collins to serve to stay in the match.
4-1: Collins was hoping to finally get on the board in the second set, and after Wozniacki tried some attack, Collins got her first game point of the set at 40-15. Collins' aggression paid off as she won her first game of the set.
4-0: Collins has continued on with her aggressive game, but it is not nearly as successful as it was in the first set. Wozniacki has dropped deeper behind the baseline, retrieving more than counterpunching, so Collins hasn't been able to get winners as easily. The second seed has found a way to eliminate Collins' weapons and dominate in long rallies. Collins finally had a chance to launch a challenge at winning a game at 30-30, but with a return error, it was a game point for Wozniacki. The Dane was unable to convert, so the game went to deuce. After an incredible rally, Wozniacki won the game to jump off to a 4-0 lead.
3-0: Collins finally won a point in the second set, drawing the score up to 15-15. Wozniacki kept dominating and got two break points at 15-40 to go up a double break. Wozniacki was successful and will serve to consolidate the double break.
2-0: Collins went very aggressive again, and after missing a swinging volley (her fourth unforced error of the set already), she went down 15-0. Wozniacki came up with an incredible forehand down-the-line to solidify the lead. Wozniacki went on to win the game to love, winning 11 points in a row.
1-0: Collins was still clearly affected from the tiebreak as she went down 0-40 on her serve after missing an easy forehand. Wozniacki broke the American to love to begin the second set.
7-6(2): Collins went toe-to-toe with Wozniacki, but her game definitely went down a notch in the tiebreak. The American got frustrated and threw the last two points away.
Wozniacki came up with a beautifully placed backhand winner to get her a 5-2 lead and Wozniacki was serving for the set in the tiebreak. A frustrated Collins went too big on Wozniacki's second serve, giving the second seed for set points. Collins again tried to end the point, and Wozniacki won the tiebreak 7-2.
Collins did not start the tiebreak the way she imagined as she made a forehand unforced error. A deep return from Wozniacki led to another Collins' error, and Wozniacki was up 2-0. Collins came up with a nice big serve-forehand winner combination to take it down to 2-1 in Wozniacki's favor. A return error and Wozniacki's forehand winner consolidated Wozniacki's lead, but the Dane made a forehand error. The score was 4-2 for Wozniacki heading into the changeover.
6-6: Collins was again serving to stay in the set and craftily got to a 30-0 lead after another drop shot. The American had a forehand come in too low, so she put it into a net. However, after a shorter ball from Wozniacki, Collins did not hesitate. After a Wozniacki return error, the set will go to a tiebreak.
On Other Courts: We now know that the winner of this match will face Georgina Garcia Perez. The 26-year-old Spaniard beat out the lucky loser Dalila Jakupovic 6-3 6-4.
6-5: Collins kept going for some big shots which seemed to work against Wozniacki, jumping away to a 0-30 lead. Then came two unforced errors from Collins to get the score to 30-30. Wozniacki produced a double fault, giving Collins a break point late in the set. Wozniacki played an incredible point, stretching Collins far and wide to get to deuce. The second seed then hit her third ace of the day to get an advantage and after a Collins forehand error, Wozniacki won the game.
5-5: Collins was serving to stay in the set and started successfully as Wozniacki wasn't able to return her serve. Collins played very aggressively which initially led to an error but then a ball on the line for 30-15. After a long baseline rally, Collins pulled out her first drop shot of the match which was successful, hitting her to 40-15. Wozniacki answered with a return winner, but Collins won the game after persistent aggression.
5-4: The two players traded errors at the beginning of the game to go to 15-15. Collins missed two returns in a row to get to 40-15 but produced a high quality one right away it to 40-30. Collins made a forehand error and Wozniacki won the game.
4-4: Collins had a very solid hold, keeping Wozniacki at an arm's length throughout the game.
4-3: Wozniacki played her consistent retrieving game very successfully as she got to a 40-0 lead. After a very difficult backhand overhead that floated just outside the line, the score was 40-15. Collins made an unforced error and Wozniacki held relatively easily.
3-3: Collins was serving with a break for the second time this set, but the consistent Wozniacki forced her into an error before producing a wonderful volley drop shot to go up 0-30. Collins got it back to 30-30 before putting a forehand into the net, giving Wozniacki a breakpoint. Wozniacki was a bit too far to hit a forehand on the rise, as she intended, and the ball hit the net, going to deuce. Collins made her 11th unforced error to give Wozniacki another breakpoint. The American made her first double fault to gift Wozniacki the game.
2-3: After Collins won the first point, Wozniacki responded with a rare ace from the Dane. The second seed got another ace and was up 40-15. Collins came up with a big cross-court return that forced Wozniacki into an error, and then with a short backhand return that also caught Wozniacki out. Wozniacki drop shotted at deuce, but Collins came up with a beautiful angle to get a breakpoint. Collins thought she hit a return winner, fist bumped and headed to the bench. However, the ball was out. This didn't affect Collins as she got another breakpoint right away, on which Wozniacki double-faulted.
2-2: Wozniacki gave Collins a hard time to begin the game, jumping away to a 0-30 lead after a beautiful lob. Collins was not intimidated and dictated the next few rallies to get to 40-30. Wozniacki was pushing Collins behind the baseline well, but pushed a little too far, with Collins winning the game.
2-1: Wozniacki seemed to get into her groove after the first game and got herself to 40-15 on her serve. After a missed forehand down-the-line from Wozniacki, Collins missed one too and the Dane won the game.
1-1: Collins' first service game in Paris didn't go quite to plan as errors piled up and Wozniacki got a 0-40 lead. Collins slipped in the key point and Wozniacki broke to love.
0-1: Collins jumped off to a 0-30 lead on Wozniacki's serve and went on to develop breakpoints at 15-40 with a consistent flat game. Collins broke and won her first ever game at the French Open.
Wozniacki to serve
Wozniacki and Collins are now on the court, warming up.
The previous match between Novak Djokovic and Rogerio Dutra Silva has ended, and this match will begin shortly.
This will be the first meeting between the two players. The winner will face one of qualifier Georgina Garcia-Perez or lucky loser Dalila Jakupovic and would be a favorite against either.
Danielle Collins has had a rocket rise in the past 12 months, so she will be making her French Open debut after her first European clay season. The 24-year-old had a solid showing, getting a 6-3 record (most of her wins were in qualification) with losses to Wang, Kasatkina, and Sasnovich. Collins has already had wins over Keys, Vandeweghe, and Venus Williams, so she certainly has the ability to pull off an upset.
After a very strong start to 2018 from Wozniacki, which included winning her first grand slam at Australian Open and returning back to No. 1. Clay is the Dane's weakest surface, and this was proven again by her results through spring. Wozniacki's best result on clay was a quarterfinal in Rome. The second seed will still be very much a favorite against Danielle Collins.
Welcome to the live coverage of the 2018 French Open first round! My name is Jakub Bobro and I am happy to be bringing you game-by-game coverage of this first-round encounter at Roland Garros between second seed Caroline Wozniacki and Danielle Collins here on VAVEL. From now on until the match begins approximately at 8:30 am ET, news and notes will be above to get you up to speed. Be sure to return once the match begins for game-by-game updates!