Caroline Wozniacki continues her quest to defend her Australian Open title. In the second round, the third seed met Johanna Larsson and right from the start the Dane proved to be in control of the situation with a display of solid tennis. Wozniacki needed 66 minutes to defeat Larsson 6-1, 6-3. The third round could potentially be another clash against Maria Sharapova if the Russian gets past Rebecca Peterson.
Dominating performance
Wozniacki recovered from 0-30 in the first game, winning four games in a row to take the opening game. Everything was going Wozniacki's way as she railed up to win four straight points to break Larsson. The Dane then raced to hold her serve and confirm the break, leading 3-0.
After losing twelve points in a row, Larsson had to work hard to hold her serve, but the defending champion was too comfortable with her game, overplaying Larsson and getting another easy hold to extend her lead to 4-0.
As the match progressed the Swedish was starting to find her game, bravely saving two break points, but despite the effort, Larsson double-faulted on the third break point giving Wozniacki the chance to serve for the set. In a convincing way, Wozniacki held her serve to love and took the first set in just 27 minutes.
The defending champion into the third round
Wozniacki's momentum seemed to carry on at the start of the second set, but Larsson pulled through, saving three break points to hold. However, the Dane overcame the Swedish to level the scoreboard to 1-1. In spite of the improvement in Larsson's game, Wozniacki dominating game helped her to get an easy break to get the early lead.
The Swedish simply couldn't penetrate Wozniacki's defense or fight back the constant return of balls. In another easy service game, the Dane held to love to lead 3-1. After an exchange of holds, Larsson was able to stay only a break down and she really pushed Wozniacki to the edge in the following game where the Swedish had two chances to retrieve the break but the defending champion showed her tenacity to hold and lead 5-3. After the disappointment of not converting those break points, Larsson once again saw herself in trouble as Wozniacki earned a match point. The Dane closed the match in style with a passing shot winner to get into the third round.