Istanbul (Turkey): Caroline Wozniacki overpowered second-seeded Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-1 on Sunday to win the Istanbul Cup final and clinch her first WTA title of the year and 22nd overall.
The top-seeded Dane needed only 67 minutes against the 24th-ranked Italian. Wozniacki won 76 percent of points on her first serve compared to just 43 per cent for Vinci and also saved all six break points against her at the hard-court Koza World of Sport Complex.
“I served well and pushed her around the court,” said Wozniacki, who won all seven of her service games. Vinci was broken five times in the match and lost her last three service games. The two players are 2-2 in head-to-heads with Vinci beating Wozniacki when she was the top-ranked player in 2011.
The 24-year-old Wozniacki — runner-up at the 2009 U.S. Open to Kim Clijsters — has won at least one WTA title every year since 2008. Now ranked 15th, her victory in Istanbul came just hours before golfer Rory McIlroy won the British Open by two strokes at Royal Liverpool. After getting engaged to Wozniacki on New Year’s Eve, McIlroy broke off the engagement in May with a telephone call. About a week after, Wozniacki exited the French Open in the first round.
Gritty Tomic topples Karlovic in Colombia
Meanwhile, Australia’s Bernard Tomic claimed his second career title and secured a return to the world top 100 when he beat defending champion Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 7-6 (7/4) in the Colombia Open final.
The 21-year-old Tomic, whose rollercoaster career took another twist when he split with global management company IMG last week, defied the 39 aces of Karlovic to take victory in two hours and 13 minutes.
It was his second tour-level title, adding to a 2013 triumph at the Sydney International.
Victory also crowned a strong week in Bogota as he won consecutive matches for the first time since undergoing double hip surgery in late January.
The world number 124 becomes the third player outside the top 100 to win a title this year, joining last week’s Swedish Open champion Pablo Cuevas and Munich winner Martin Klizan.
Tomic is also the first Australian champion in South America since Ken Rosewall triumphed in Buenos Aires in 1968.
For Karlovic, it was a second defeat in a final against an Australian opponent in the space of a week after the 6ft 11in Croatian giant had been defeated by Lleyton Hewitt in the Newport decider last Sunday.
In what turned out to be a good weekend for Australian tennis, Sam Groth and Chris Guccione won the doubles title.
