Tennis
Wozniacki loses in 1st round
2012-12-31 08:44
Brisbane - Caroline
Wozniacki's first trip to the Brisbane International ended in a
shocking 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) first-round loss to Kazakhstan qualifier
Ksenia Pervak on Monday. After her early exit, she was quick to dismiss
speculation about an engagement to golf No 1 Rory McIlroy.
Wozniacki,
who held the year-end No1 ranking in 2010 and 2011 but is yet to win a
major title, had high-profile support from McIlroy in the crowd and
there was a buzz around Pat Rafter Arena amid rumors the pair had become
engaged in the off-season.
The
22-year-old Danish player was photographed with a new ring on her left
hand as she arrived in Australia last week, sparking speculation of
pending nuptials. She explained on Monday that the ring was a Christmas
gift.
"It's already twice we've had to shut down engagement rumors," she said. "Don't worry, we'll let you know!"
On
the court, Wozniacki raced to a 4-1 lead before finishing off the first
set within a half hour. The Dane started to struggle with her serve as
she lost the second set and then had difficulty in the third countering
powerful groundstrokes from the left-handed Pervak in the first upset
result of the tournament.
The
103-ranked Pervak, who lost in the first round at 14 tournaments last
year, including Brisbane, started to hit the lines in the second set,
showing match sharpness honed by playing in the qualifying tournament.
She
was two points from victory, serving for the match at 5-3 and 30-15,
but made a series of unforced errors to get broken and let the
10th-ranked Wozniacki get back into it.
Wozniacki
held serve at love in the 12th game to force a tiebreaker but Pervak
dominated from there, winning the first five points and securing the win
with the first of her five match points when her rival missed with a
timid forehand service return.
In
earlier first-round matches, No 4-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany
opened with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win over Anna Tatishvili of Georgia and
French Open finalist Sara Errani beat Russia's Olga Puchkova 6-1, 6-3.
Alize
Cornet of France advanced to a second-round match against third-seeded
Serena Williams with an opening 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 over Australian qualifier
Bojana Bobusic, and Germany's Sabine Lisicki opened with a 6-2, 6-4 win
over Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic to set up a second-round match
against top-ranked Victoria Azarenka.
In
the men's draw, sixth-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany beat Santiago
Giraldo of Colombia 6-4, 6-4. Japan's Kei Nishikori, seeded fifth, was
to play Australia's Marinko Matosevic later on Monday on the centre-court.