Wozniacki, Venus win at Dubai Champs
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki came back from 5-1 down in the second set to beat Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, 6-2, 7-6 (2), in the second round of the Dubai Championships yesterday.
Wozniacki, at a career-high world No 3 ranking, impressively rallied to 5-5 then shot through the tie-breaker.
Also advancing after first-round byes were defending champion Venus Williams, second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, No 4 Victoria Azarenka, No 6 Jelena Jankovic, and No 8 Li Na. But 2008 champion Elena Dementieva had to retire with a right
shoulder injury.
Wozniacki said her focus relaxed after winning the first set
against Cibulkova.
Next up will be Shahar Peer, who continued her notable run a year after being denied entry into the tournament because Israel had no diplomatic relations with the Emirates.
A day after ousting seeded Yanina Wickmayer, Peer eliminated 2009 Dubai finalist Virginie Razzano of France,
6-2, 6-2.
Williams, seeded second but the tournament favourite, beat Sabine Lisicki of Germany, 6-2, 6-3.
Kuznetsova moved into the third round when Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain withdrew with a lower back injury, and Azarenka was leading US Open quarter-finalist Kateryna Bondarenko, 4-1, when the latter retired with a sprained left knee.
Dementieva, seeded fifth, was losing to Daniela Hantuchova, 6-4, 1-1, when she quit in pain.
Jankovic took more than two hours to account for Aravane Rezai of France, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, and Li was pushed all the way by Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain to win, 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-4.
Also through were Flavia Pennetta of Italy, Marion Bartoli of France, Vera Zvonareva of Russia, Olga Govortsova of Belarus, who beat 14th-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy, 6-4, 6-4, Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
of Russia.