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The top seed has a chance to usurp world number
one Simona Halep with a victory in New Zealand and the
27-year-old needed just 58 minutes to race past American Madison
Brengle with a 6-3 6-0 triumph in their first round encounter on
Tuesday.
The world number three is still searching for her first grand
slam triumph but after emerging victorious in the elite
eight-woman event in Singapore, her raised levels of play could
see her make that breakthrough in Melbourne later this month.
Wozniacki is also searching for a first triumph in Auckland
after reaching the final in 2015 and despite being tested by
Brengle early the contest, the Dane pulled away once she found
her rhythm and claimed the last seven games to seal victory.
"I thought I played pretty well, especially considering it's the
first match back of the year," Wozniacki told reporters. "It
took me a couple of games to kind of just get the rhythm and
then I started playing better and better.
"I'm just trying to get my legs moving, trying to make the right
decisions, wait for the right shots to play aggressive and go
for it, and find the right balance of offense and defense."
The win set up a second round encounter against Croatia's Petra
Martic, who overcame Czech player Marketa Vondrousova 7-6(2) 6-3
in their first round tie to advance.
Elsewhere, former world number two and 2013 Auckland champion
Agnieszka Radwanska was forced to dig deep to remain on a
semi-final collision course with Wozniacki when the Pole eked
out a 6-2 4-6 6-2 victory over Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia.
"I'm just very happy to win my first match of 2018, and I think
it was good timing to come back and do it here in Auckland after
five years," Radwanska, who has seen her ranking drop to 28th
after a poor 2017, said in her on-court interview.
Third seed Barbora Strycova was also taken the distance in her
first round encounter against Italy's Sara Errani, the Czech
emerging with a 6-4 6-7(3) 6-4 victory to set up a second round
tie against Sweden's Johanna Larsson.
The day did not pass without three upsets, however, with
defending champion and fifth seed Lauren Davis losing 6-1 6-2 to
fellow American Sachia Vickery, while sixth seed Yulia
Putintseva and seventh seed Mona Barthel both suffered straight
set losses.
The Australian Open is the first grand slam of the season and
runs from Jan 15-28 in Melbourne.
(Reporting by John O'Brien in Singapore; editing by Sudipto
Ganguly)
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