Wozniacki wins first tournament as world number one in Beijing
Published:Caroline Wozniacki avenged her US Open semi-final defeat to Vera Zvonareva by defeating her in the China Open and winning her first tournament as world number one.
Zvonareva didn’t bow out without a fight though and Wozniacki needed three sets to complete the victory, finally winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 after weather problems in Beijing saw the final moved to Monday lunchtime.
Wozniacki will not compete in the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria this week after her heroics in Beijing, and joins Serena Williams on the sidelines after the American revealed she wasn’t ready to make a comeback after her foot injury.
Serena looks set to miss the rest of the season as she primes herself for an assault on the Australian Open in January in an attempt to regain her world number one status, but the withdrawal of the two best players in the women’s game leaves the draw in Austria wide open.
Daniela Hantuchova is the top seed for the competiton and faces Kateryna Bondarenko on Tuesday afternoon in a match the top seed is 4/9 to win.
Hantuchova has a 2-0 head-to-head record on her opponent and should progress from her first round easily.
Alona Bondarenko has been promoted to top seed in the top half of the draw after Serena’s withdrawal and she faces Italian Roberta Vinci in the first round and is short at 8/11 to win.
Vinci is 1/1 to beat Bondarenko and can be confident of victory after beating her opponent on the hard courts of Zurich.
Vinci beat Nadia Petrova recently in the Toray Pan Pacific Open and Petrova beat Bondarenko in the China Open last week which suggests Vinci has the better form.
Ana Ivanovic is also in action and is arguably the tournaments in-form player and faces Sorana Cristea in the first round. See the full Genarali Ladies Linz betting odds market here.
