Austrian Tamira Paszek upset Serb tenth seed Jelena Jankovic 7-5, 6-4 while Svetlana Kuznetsova, champion five years ago, advanced when Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru retired trailing 6-2, 4-1 in the China Open on Saturday. Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki is counting on good memories from the China Open to help her through the event where she is top seed and says she will fight on to retain her number one rank. “I reached number one for the first time here (in 2010), it definitely brings back good memories,” the Danish 21-year-old said on Saturday as women’s play began in Beijing.
“This is a tournament that I’ll never forget, it’s one of the highs of my career.” Since that breakthrough, Wozniacki has struggled to validate her position with a career-first grand slam title, though she has claimed six regular trophies on the WTA in 2011. Her recent best showings at the majors have been limited to semi-finals at the Australian and US Opens this season. The top seed begins play in the capital against Czech Lucie Hradecka, ranked 49th.
Wozniacki refuses to let her lack of a grand slam title cloud her sunny attitude. “Reaching number one is always something special and not a lot of people have done it. Thinking back on Beijing last year it’s a great memory.” She remains confident of earning year-end number one status as well.
“After being so many weeks at number one, I want to stay there until the end of the season and until the New Year. “That’s definitely my goal. I’ll do everything to try to do well here and in Istanbul (year-end championships), and we have to see what happens. “That would be something amazing for me, to finish number one for two times in a row. That would be something very big. I’m going to keep fighting for the last weeks of the season.” Men begin their ATP draw on Monday. In WTA opening play, 2010 Roland Garros winner Francesca Schiavone, the seventh seed, began with a 6-1, 6-3 thrashing of Serb Bojana Jovanovski in 67 minutes.
