Wozniacki wins season opener at Sydney International

Sydney, Jan 6 (IANS) Former world No. One Caroline Wozniacki won her season opener over German Julia Goerges in three sets at the Sydney International tennis tournament Monday.

Wozniacki, seeded sixth, lost the first set 3-6 and rallied to come through in the next two sets 6-2, 6-4, reports Xinhua.

The Danish withdrew from Brisbane WTA tournament last weekend due to a shoulder injury.

Fourth-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic suffered an upset, losing to world No. 23 Ekaterina Makarova 4-6, 2-6.

US qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands beat Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 6-3 while Czech Lucie Safarova edged out Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-4.

Mattek-Sands will now face defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska, the top-seed at the Sydney International and world No. 5.

German fifth seed Angelique Kerber beat last year’s runner-up Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova 7-6 (5), 7-5 while qualifier Lauren Davis from the US outlasted Australian wildcard Jarmila Gajdosova in 6-4, 7-6 (8).

Romania’s Sorana Cirstea went down to Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 6-1 and American Victoria Duval lost to Kaia Kanepi from Estonia 6-1, 6-3.

In the men’s singles, French sixth seed Julien Benneteau beat Australian Matthew Ebden 6-2, 6-2 and Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin won over Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-1, 6-2.