World number one Caroline Wozniacki and her team-mate Aravane Rezai notched straight-sets singles wins on Wednesday to power Europe into a 2-0 lead over Asia-Pacific at Hong Kong's World Team Challenge. Danish sensation Wozniacki, 20, dispatched China's top woman Li Na 6-4, 6-3 to throw down the gauntlet to her rivals ahead of the Australian Open with an ice-cool display in the season-opening exhibition.
Earlier world number 19 Rezai had dismissed Hong Kong's top-ranked player Zhang Ling 6-3, 6-0, with the world's tennis stars warming up before the season's first Grand Slam in Melbourne starting on January 17. "It was a great match and good preparation for the Australian Open," said Wozniacki, who is playing with new racquet this year.
Wozniacki and Li held serve in the close-fought early exchanges before the Dane broke the deadlock to take the first set 6-4. The Chinese number one started the second set more consistently and appeared to have shaken off a tendency to commit unforced errors as she went 3-0 up.
But Wozniacki demonstrated the kind of tenacity which saw her take her 12th WTA title in Beijing in October, turning the thumbscrews to win 6-3. Wozniacki, runner-up at the 2009 US Open, will be highly fancied to do well with Serena Williams injured. Rezai, 23, of France, gave an erratic performance marked by six double faults and a series of unforced errors in the first set but a sublime second set display which saw her take the match 6-3, 6-0.
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