Melbourne: Second seed Caroline Wozniacki saved two match points as she battled back from 1-5 down in the deciding set to beat Melbourne Park debutante Croatian Jana Fett 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the second round of women’s singles at the Australian Open tennis tournament here, Wednesday.
Former World No.1 Wozniacki was simply outplayed by the Croatian for large parts of the match but rallied when the 21-year-old blinked and knocked off six straight games on the trot to avert the upset and claim her place in the third round.
“That was crazy, I don’t know how I got back into the match,” said a relieved Wozniacki. “I’m very proud of the way I came back. It was definitely very difficult. All of a sudden seeing myself down, almost out of the tournament, I started playing better.”
Fett, ranked 119th in the world, played some brilliant shots throughout the contest and rattled off eight straight points to win the opening set in 33 minutes. However, Wozniacki came back to win the second set and take the match to the decider.
Fett twice served for the match but nerves got the better of her both times and Wozniacki took full advantage to set up a third round meeting with Belgian Kiki Bertens who beat Nicola Gibbs of the US 7-6(7-5), 6-2.
Fourth seed Elina Svitolina also came from a set down to overcome spirited Czech Katerina Siniakova 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. The Ukrainian is now on a seven-match winning streak after winning the lead-up Brisbane International.
Svitolina who picked up five WTA Tour titles last year, more than any other woman, will now take on the talented teenager Marta Kostyuk.
The 15-year-old Ukrainian became the youngest woman to reach the third round since Martina Hingis got to the quarterfinals in 1996, by beating local wildcard Olivia Rogowska 6-3, 7-5.
French Open champion and seventh seed Jelena Ostapenko also progressed, but she too needed three sets to get past China’s Duan Yingying 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Other results
Kateryna Bonderenko bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-3
Luksika Kumkhum bt Belinda Bencic 6-1, 6-3
C Suarez Navarro bt Timea Babos 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
Alize Cornet bt Julia Georges 6-4, 6-3
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