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New Haven - Four-time champion Caroline
Wozniacki is out of the Connecticut Open.
The former top-ranked player from Denmark
lost 7-5, 6-2 to Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia on Monday in the first round of the
final warmup for the US Open.
Wozniacki, now ranked 51st, was coming off
a second-round loss to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic at the Olympics.
Kvitova advanced on Monday with a 1-6, 6-1,
6-3 win over American Louisa Chirico.
Ostapenko, 19, reached the final at Doha in
February and won the Wimbledon junior girls tournament in 2014.
The key moment on Monday came in the first
set when Wozniacki was up 5-3 and serving for the set. Ostapenko broke
Wozniacki's serve twice in taking the next four games, then reeled off another
four straight wins in the second set to close out the win.
"After that, the match turned the
other way," Ostapenko said of her service breaks. "She's a great
player ... so I just played like I had nothing to lose."
The 39th-ranked Ostapenko will face
top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the second round.
Wozniacki served for set point up 5-3 but
mishit a return, giving Ostapenko a chance to rally. "The thought was
there, but the execution wasn't there," Wozniacki said.
Wozniacki, who has missed time with
injuries this season, said it wasn't her best match, but added "you have
to give (Ostapenko) credit where credit is due."
"It's been a really weird year for me,
something I'm not used to," she said. "It's frustrating when you
practice well and can't really execute in the matches. ... At least when I know
when I'm playing my best level, if someone beats me, that's fine. But what's
frustrating is when you're not playing your best and then you get beat."
Wozniacki's early exit leaves the
tournament with four players in the WTA's Top 20 - Radwanska, Roberta Vinci of
Italy, Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Elena Vesnina of Russia.
Vesnina and Eugenie Bouchard of Canada won
their opening matches. Bouchard rolled past Annika Beck of Germany 6-2, 6-1,
while Vesnina beat Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-1, 6-4.
The 20th-ranked Vesnina arrived in New
Haven on the heels of a doubles gold medal at the Rio Olympics with Ekaterina
Makarova. She reached her first major singles semi-final at Wimbledon.
In other matches on Monday, Anastasija Sevastova beat Nicole Gibbs of the United States 7-5, 6-0, and Caroline Garcia of France completed a rain-delayed 6-1, 6-4 victory over Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania.
Results from the WTA Connecticut Open on Monday (x denotes seeded player):
1st rd
Caroline Garcia (FRA) bt Irina-Camelia Begu (ROM) 6-1, 6-4
Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) bt Nicole Gibbs (USA) 7-5, 6-0
Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Camila Giorgi (ITA) 6-1, 6-4
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) bt Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 7-5, 6-2
Eugnie Bouchard (CAN) bt Annika Beck (GER) 6-2, 6-1
Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) bt Maria Sakkari (GRE) 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
Anett Kontaveit (EST) bt Kiki Bertens (NED) 6-3, 6-4
Ana Konjuh (CRO) bt Kayla Day (USA) 6-0, 6-3
