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Caroline Wozniacki put up a great performance to start her run at the China Open on Monday. The Dane needed just 70 minutes to prevail over Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-3 on Diamond Court at the National Tennis Center in Beijing
The two met for the second time with the Dane gaining an easy win two years back in Doha. The first set began with Davis getting an early break of the Wozniacki serve. She tried to consolidate it with a hold but was denied in another tightly-contested game. With a break in hand for each of them, the attempt for Davis to go for another was shut down as she had a loose racket allowing her very little push to compete with.
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She sent out two of her rackets to be restrung, leaving her with no choice but to play with one in the meantime. She quickly found herself in a 1-4 deficit with Wozniacki finding her comfort zone and Davis waiting for her rackets to return.
Already on the backfoot, the American saved one break point but failed on two attempts to hold serve. With the 5-1 lead, Wozniacki easily put Davis away with a strong service game that ended the set in 35 minutes. The Dane had 10 winners and drew 15 errors from Davis, showing her strength and poise to continue forward.
From the beginning of the second set, the 29-year-old was in command and scored the early break before holding her serve to love. Davis answered back with a strong service, but the gap only widened after Wozniacki started dictating terms with her forehands.
After the Dane led 5-1, the seventh game went to deuce as Davis was determined to hold by any means. On her second AD point attempt, the American earned it on a great crosscourt forehand. Davis loosened up in the next game and hit with better depth that allowed her to gain a break.
She won nine of the next 11 points but Davis undid her good work with a double fault that opened the door for Wozniacki. She saw the window of opportunity and fired back the big returns to achieve match point, ending her day in one hour and ten minutes.
The two-time champion thus set up a showdown with Christina McHale to determine who would play against Katerina Siniakova in the Round of 16.
