MONTREAL — Sara Errani advanced to the second round of the US$2.4 million women’s Rogers Cup with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que. on Tuesday.
Errani, ranked 25th in the world, posted four service breaks in the first set of the centre court battle of 29-year-old baseliners. Errani, coming off a quarter-final on clay in Sweden last week, led 4-2 in the second when Wozniak had her best moments battling back to force a tiebreaker.
Wozniak, ranked 21st in 2009, has slipped to 465th after a series of injuries. She lost in the first round for a second week in a row, having fallen to Jessica Pegula last week in Washington, D.C.
Lucky loser Christina McHale of the U.S. posted a 6-4, 3-0 win over qualifier Shuai Zhang, who retired in the second set.
Andrea Petkovic of Germany downed Alize Cornet of France 7-6 (1), 6-3 to advance to a second-round meeting with 12th seeded Petra Kvitova.