MELBOURNE: Second seed Caroline Wozniacki saved two match points as she battled back from 5-1 down in the deciding set to beat Melbourne Park debutante Jana Fett 3-6 6-2 7-5 in the second round of the Australian Open yesterday.
Former world number one Wozniacki was simply outplayed by the Croatian for large parts of the match but rallied when the 21-year-old blinked and knocked off six straight games on the trot to avert an upset and claim her place in the third round.
“That was crazy, I don’t know how I got back into the match,” said a relieved Wozniacki.
“I’m very proud of the way I came back. It was definitely very difficult. Definitely wasn’t my best match, especially in the beginning.
“All of a sudden seeing myself down, almost out of the tournament, I started playing better and started really playing the tennis that I wanted to play.”
Fett, ranked 119th in the world, played some brilliant shots throughout the contest and rattled off eight straight points to win the opening set in 33 minutes.
Fired by the first of two rows with umpire Richard Haigh over delayed challenges, Wozniacki worked her way back into the contest to take the second set when Fett hit a return long.
The Croatian refused to fade away, though, and Wozniacki threw her racket to the ground in disgust after being broken for 3-1 with Fett driving home her advantage to stand on the brink of the third round at 5-1 40-15 up.
“I was thinking at that point she still has to win four more balls to win this match,” said Wozniacki.
“I felt like I was one foot out of the tournament. She served a great serve down the T, as well. It was just slightly out. I was kind of lucky.
“Then I felt her tighten up just slightly. I thought to myself ... ‘make her win it, don’t give it to her’.”
Fourth seed Elina Svitolina also came from a set down to overcome spirited Czech Katerina Siniakova 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
The Ukrainian is now on a seven-match win streak and after picking up five WTA Tour titles last year, more than any other woman, is a serious Grand Slam contender.
Her next task is tackling 15-year-old sensation Marta Kostyuk, who became the youngest woman to reach the third round since Martina Hingis got to the quarter-finals in 1996.
Also Ukrainian, she beat local wildcard Olivia Rogowska 6-3, 7-5.
Her win streak at Melbourne Park is now 11 straight matches after claiming the Australian Open girls’ title in 2017 and coming through qualifying this year.
French Open champion and seventh seed Jelena Ostapenko also progressed, but she too needed three sets to get past China’s Duan Yingying.
But Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a quarter-finalist last year, became the latest seed to slump out in the women’s draw, which has been shorn of leading names over the first two rounds.
Venus Williams’ conqueror Belinda Bencic also ran out of steam, having no answers against Thai qualifier Luksika Kumkhum, slumping out 6-1, 6-3.