(June 7, 2016) Former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki made a winning return from injury in Nottingham, progressing to the second round of the Aegon Open with a 7-5, 6-3 victory against Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay.
No.3 seed Wozniacki, who missed the entire clay-court season with an ankle problem, was pushed by Turkey’s Buyukakcay. The Danish star took 52 minutes to claim the first set on Centre Court, before racing to a 5-1 lead in the second.
However, her 26-year-old opponent, who became the first player from Turkey to win a Grand Slam match at last month’s French Open, hit back to reduce the arrears to 5-3 before Wozniacki seized the initiative in the ninth game to break for the victory.
“It’s nice to be back on court,” Wozniacki said. “There are always things I want to do better, but all in all for my first match back in so many weeks it’s just great to be back.
“I am pleased with the result and pleased with the way I fought. I think in general I moved pretty well – I hit my targets and I got a lot of returns back.”
On featuring at the Nottingham Tennis Centre for the first time: “It’s really nice how they take good care of you here and the courts are nice and the practise courts are good. It’s all positive things.”
The Aegon Open Nottingham will see two tournaments take place in June, with the women’s WTA event being staged from 4-12 June 2016. Both tournaments will be an integral part of the British grass-court season, which features 11 international grass-court tournaments in eight venues across the country.
Earlier this year the LTA announced changes to the three week 2017 grass court tournament calendar. Nottingham will host a combined men’s and women’s tour-level tournament in the same week for the first time in 44 years. The pre-existing ATP 250 tournament will move back to Eastbourne, merging with the WTA Premier Aegon International to form a combined event (as it was from 2009-2014) featuring the following format: a 28-player main draw men’s event and 48-player main draw for the women staged across nine days. Other changes include a doubling of prize money at the Aegon Trophy Series (ATP Challenger & ITF Women’s Pro Circuit).
AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM – NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND
$250,000
6-12 JUNE, 2016
RESULTS – JUNE 07, 2016
Women’s
Singles – First Round
[3] C. Wozniacki (DEN) d C. Buyukakcay (TUR) 75 63
[4] M. Puig (PUR) d [Q] K. Zhang (CHN) 61 61
[LL] A. Hlavackova (CZE) d [5] Y. Wickmayer (BEL) 75 76(7)
M. Rybarikova (SVK) d [6] H. Watson (GBR) 46 60 64
A. Riske (USA) d [7] M. Barthel (GER) 62 61
[Q] A. Barty (AUS) d S. Peng (CHN) 63 62
[Q] M. Larcher de Brito (POR) d [WC] L. Robson (GBR) 63 75
[LL] T. Paszek (AUT) d K. Nara (JPN) 64 62
S. Hsieh (TPE) d N. Broady (GBR) 62 61
[Q] T. Moore (GBR) d D. Vekic (CRO) 62 75
Women’s
Doubles – First Round
[2] Y. Xu (CHN) / S. Zheng (CHN) d L. Davis (USA) / C. Mchale (USA) 63 26 10-8
Ka. Pliskova (CZE) / Kr. Pliskova (CZE) d [WC] F. Christie (GBR) / L. Robson (GBR) 67(2) 64 12-10
ORDER OF PLAY – WEDNESDAY, JUNE 08, 2016
CENTRE COURT start 12:00 noon
[4] M. Puig (PUR) vs [Q] M. Larcher de Brito (POR)
[1] [WC] Ka. Pliskova (CZE) vs A. Tatishvili (USA)
A. Kontaveit (EST) vs [3] C. Wozniacki (DEN)
J. Rae (GBR) / A. Smith (GBR) vs A. Kudryavtseva (RUS) / L. Zhu (CHN)
COURT 2 start 11:00 am
N. Melichar (USA) / A. Rosolska (POL) vs A. Hlavackova (CZE) / S. Peng (CHN)
S. Aoyama (JPN) / R. Voracova (CZE) vs N. Broady (GBR) / A. Sevastova (LAT)
A. Riske (USA) vs S. Hsieh (TPE)
after suitable rest – [1] H. Chan (TPE) / Y. Chan (TPE) vs R. Olaru (ROU) / A. Tatishvili (USA)