NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark rallied to defeat Timea Bacsinszky 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 Monday night in the first round at the Connecticut Open.
Wozniacki got off to a sluggish start. A four-time champion of the New Haven tournament, the fourth-seeded Wozniacki lost the first three games of the match against Bacsinszky, a qualifier. Wozniacki battled back to even the set at 4-4. But Bacsinszky got a break of serve in the next game, and then closed out the set by scoring on a drop shot.
“I have to give her credit, she started out well,” Wozniacki said. “She got some matches under her belt playing qualifiers, and that helped her. I felt pretty good out there. It just took a while to get started.”
There were several long rallies in the final two sets before Wozniacki prevailed. It was 2-2 in the third set before Wozniacki won the final four games.
“It took me a few games to get used to new balls and a faster court,” Wozniacki said. “But I felt like I was getting stronger as the match went on. My confidence was high. I was in a great place mentally.”
Eugenie Bouchard of Canada needed only 52 minutes to beat Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski 6-1, 6-1. The third-seeded Bouchard led 5-0 in each set against the unseeded Jovanovski.
In a late night match, No. 5 seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia lost 7-6 (2), 6-3 to Andrea Petkovic of Germany.
Earlier, seventh-seeded Sara Errani of Italy was eliminated by Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. It was the third loss in the last four matches for Errani, who has been knocked out in the first round in two of her last three tournaments. Muguruza lost in straight sets to Errani at the 2012 U.S. Open in their only other meeting.
Samantha Stosur of Australia earned a 7-6 (8), 6-7 (10), 6-2 victory over Kurumi Nara of Japan. Stosur, who won the U.S. Open in 2011, blew three match points in the second set tiebreaker and let another match point get away before winning on her fifth chance. Stosur was given a wild card into the Connecticut Open.
Qualifier Shuai Pen of China beat Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine 6-4, 6-3, and Barbora Strycova Zahlavova of the Czech Republic defeated qualifier Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
Unseeded Carla Suarez-Navarro of Spain withdrew from the tournament because of a gastrointestinal illness. She was replaced by lucky loser Caroline Garcia of France, who beat qualifier Irina Carmelia Begu of Romania 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4).
Wild card entrant Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium beat qualifier Misaki Doi of Japan 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Unseeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia defeated qualifier Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain 6-4, 6-3.
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