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Caroline Wozniacki put together a comfortable win to begin her singles run at the ASB Classic Tuesday. The fifth seed gave very little opportunity for Paige Hourigan, who went down in a 6-1, 6-0 result on Stadium Court at the ASB Tennis Arena in Auckland.
In what is her final month of playing tennis, the Dane would have wanted to start and finish her season on a high. The former World No.1 announced last season that she would complete her career after the Australian Open, making every match between Auckland to Melbourne a lot more memorable.
Hourigan had made the main draw for the first time in four attempts, making it special for her to play Wozniacki.
The Dane came out fast in the opening set, scoring a serve to love followed by a break to love. Wozniacki’s dominance continued where she notched two more shutouts that led to her 6-1 victory in 23 minutes.
In the short period, the 29-year-old gave away just seven points to the New Zealander, who had a hard time keeping up. The Dane’s first serve percentage reached 93, going three for three on the second serve. Hourigan had 19 unforced errors in the set that led to the near sweep.
Wozniacki won her second straight set and was halted by a small amount of rain that fell on court. When play resumed, the Dane notched up her fourth shutout of Hourigan before securing a second double break in the match. The 29-year-old inched closer to the finish, leaving very little for Hourigan to make a dent on serve.
The New Zealander had one more game left in her to extend the set, but the efforts from the fifth seed were too much to contain. Wozniacki achieved three match points on serve in the sixth to bring an end to the game in just 53 minutes.
“It’s the first singles match of the season so I just kind of wanted to feel everything out there and felt like I played well out there. I got some of the first nerves out playing in doubles with Serena Williams so I could be more relaxed.”
