Wozniacki crashes, Azarenka cruises

By Anil John/Doha

JUBILANT: Czech Lucie Safarova celebrates after defeating Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the first round of the WTA Qatar Ladies Open at the Khalifa Tennis Complex. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil

Caroline Wozniacki’s courtship with Rory McIlroy may well be the stuff of dreams, but things are turning out to be somewhat different on the tennis court this season for the Danish dazzler. Even indifferent.Wozniacki, who lost her world number ranking to Belorussian Victoria Azarenka at the Australian open earlier this year, had talked about how happy she was to come to Doha after being the runner up here on two straight occasions – at the season-ending championships in 2010 and the 2011 Qatar Open.But yesterday, she must have been left with mixed emotions after she blew three match points against the Czech Republic’s Lucie Safaraova to crash out of the Qatar Total Open.After spending almost the whole of 2011 fending off questions about the legitimacy of her top ranking because of the absence of a Grand Slam crown in her otherwise illustrious list of achievements, she risks being haunted by another annoying query if her slide runs deep into this season: Is having a high-profile boyfriend proving a distraction for you?Although she was spared that question yesterday, she didn’t make any attempt to hide her disappointment at her performance.“I just want to get out of here (the press conference room). You don’t want to stay when you lose a match like that,” said Wozniacki.“It’s really disappointing but you have to move on,” added the Dane. McIlroy flew to Doha from Dubai to be with her on Valentine’s Day and was watching from the stands yesterday when Wozniacki was battling rangy left-hander Safarova who packed quite a punch in her strokes to score a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) victory.Safarova saved three match points in the 10th game of the third set and played a superb tiebreaker to set up a third round clash with Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who defeated compatriot Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 6-4.“Unless you win the final point, the match is not over,” said Safarova. “I just wanted to keep fighting. It feels absolutely amazing,” added the 25-year-old, who has won four titles on the WTA Tour. “I was trying to be aggressive into her forehand, which is a little bit weaker side, I think,” added Safarova. “And being patient.  When I got a little bit weaker ball, trying to attack it and staying tough in the game. “It’s good to have a match in bag winning on the tournament because each tournament is a little bit different, different surface and everything around.”World number one and Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka however cruised into the second round, beating Germany’s Mona Barthel 6-1, 6-0. The Belorussian top seed will now take on Romania’s Simona Halep.“Well, you cannot never say the match was easy, you know, because no matter the score is, you still have to put a lot of effort,” said Azarenka. “And to win easy sometimes takes more effort than, you know, you probably would have stayed there for a longer period of time.“So I’m just happy the way I played.  I take it match by match.  We’ll see tomorrow.”Azarenka, who was playing her first match after her Australian Open victory, was asked if being number one was like “extra baggage.”“I always travel with excess baggage,” she joked. “I mean, as I said, it’s really just a number, you know.  “It’s a great feeling to have, but I have so many more goals that I would like to achieve, and I just want to keep working hard and keep improving, because I feel like there shouldn’t be really a limit, you know, how much you can push yourself.  So that’s what I’m trying to do.”Meanwhile, former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic was sent packing by the Czech Republic’s Petra Cetkovska, who won 6-4, 6-4, while Australia’s Stosur beat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).RESULTS & ORDER OF PLAY2nd rd results: Victoria Azarenka (BLR x1) bt Mona Barthel (GER) 6-1, 6-0Agnieszka Radwanska (POLx4) bt Anne Keothavong (GBR) 6-1, 6-2Marion Bartoli (FRA x 5) bt Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 6-2, 6-0Simona Halep (ROM) bt Iveta Benesova (CZE) 6-4, 6-4Monica Niculescu (ROM) bt Vera Zvonareva (RUS x6) 7-5, 3-2, retdShahar Peer (ISR) bt Jelena Jankovic (SRBx8) 7-6 (7/3), 6-2Lucie Safarova (CZE) bt Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x2) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(7/3), Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) bt Francesca Schiavone (ITA x7) 7-6(7/4), 6-4, Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x14) bt Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 6-4, 6-4,Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) bt Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 6-4, 6-2Varvara Lepchenko (USA) bt Julia Goerges (GER) 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5)Samantha Stosur (AUS x 3) bt Sorana Cirstea (ROM) 6-4, 7-6 (7/4)Petra Cetkovska (CZE) bt Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 6-4, 6-4Ksenia Pervak (KAZ) bt Virginie Razzano (FRA) 6-4 6-0Christina McHale (USA) bt Shuai Peng (CHN) 7-5, 3-6, 6-2Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) bt Angelique Kerber (GER) 6-4, 6-1Women’sDoubles - Second RoundV Dushevina (RUS) / S Peer (ISR) d [2] S Mirza (IND) / E Vesnina (RUS) 6-4 6-4K Barrois (GER) / A Groenefeld (GER) d [3] D Hantuchova (SVK) / A Radwanska (POL) 6-1 6-2[4] M Kirilenko (RUS) / S Lisicki (GER) d A Klepac (SLO) / A Rosolska (POL) 6-2 4-6 10-8R Kops-Jones (USA) / A Spears (USA) d [6] N Grandin (RSA) / V Uhlirova (CZE) 6-4 3-6 11-9

ORDER OF PLAY - THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2012CENTER COURT start 3:30 pm[4] A Radwanska (POL) vs [Q] V Lepchenko (USA) [1] V Azarenka (BLR) vs S Halep (ROU) P Cetkovska (CZE) vs [3] S Stosur (AUS)

Not Before 8:00 PM[5] M Bartoli (FRA) vs T Pironkova (BUL)

COURT 1 start 3:30 pmK Pervak (KAZ) vs Y Wickmayer (BEL) M Niculescu (ROU) vs [Q] K Bondarenko (UKR) [14] S Kuznetsova (RUS) vs L Safarova (CZE)

COURT 2 start 3:30 pmC Mchale (USA) vs S Peer (ISR) [1] L Huber (USA) / L Raymond (USA) vs H Chan (TPE) / R Fujiwara (JPN) R Kops-Jones (USA) / A Spears (USA) vs V Dushevina (RUS) / S Peer (ISR) - After suitable rest

COURT 3 start 3:30 pm[5] N Llagostera Vives (ESP) / A Rodionova (AUS) vs A Medina Garrigues (ESP) / A Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) K Jans-Ignacik (POL) / K Mladenovic (FRA) vs [8] I Benesova (CZE) / B Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) A Kudryavtseva (RUS) / K Zakopalova (CZE) vs [7] J Goerges (GER) / J Zheng (CHN).