World number two and Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki started off her French Open campaign in fine style on a hot Monday afternoon in Paris, with the Dane coming through a tight opening set to eventually ease past America’s Danielle Collins on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The first set was very entertaining, with both Wozniacki and Collins playing very well, and it was certainly very tight, with the American twice leading by a break. The Dane, however, broke straight back on both ocassions, and later took the first set on a tiebreak before racing through the second set in fine style, winning 7-6(2), 6-1 in an hour and 34 minutes.
Wozniacki proves too strong for improving Collins as she reaches round two
Prior to this match many people were interested in how it would pan out, with many pointing the similarities the style in which both play and Collins’ recent rise on tour, with the former college player impressing in big tournaments such as Indian Wells and Miami just a handful of months ago, and the opening stages did prove to be intrigiung.
It was Collins who got off to perhaps the brighter start, breaking for leads at both 2-1 and 3-2 in the opener, though each time Wozniacki was able to break back immediately. After that, neither of the two was able to gain much ground throughout the remainder of set, with both impressing on serve, though it was the Dane who took charge in the ensuing tiebreak. Wozniacki secured an early minibreak at 2-0, and eventually took it by a comfortable 7-2 scoreline.
Despite having been so impressive in the opening set, Collins started to falter slightly at the beginning of the second, and several errors by the American saw Wozniacki break in the opening game, and consolidate for a 2-0 lead. The Dane continued to apply the pressure, breaking again to lead 4-0, and though Collins was able to avoid the bagel, the second seed was now fully in control. She held comfortably to go a game away from victory, and then converted a second match point on Collins’ serve to set up a second round meeting against Spanish qualifier Georgina Garcia Perez.
Heading into the tournament, very few people were talking about Wozniacki as a potential title contender, with the Dane never really thriving on clay courts throughout her career. Despite that, Wozniacki, who reached the last eight in 2017, is in the strongest position of anyone to end the tournament as the world number one, and showed on Monday that she is more than capable of progressing deep into the draw.