Tennis: Top seed Caroline Wozniacki continued her search for her first Grand Slam title in unconvincing fashion on Wednesday at the French Open.
The world number one struggled against Canadian qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak in a second-round tie that proved to be closer than rankings suggested, with Danish star Wozniacki made to fight tooth and nail for her 6-3 7-6 victory.
The first set saw Wozniak hold serve only once as she was overpowered by the top seed's strong backhand. Wozniacki struggled to hold serve herself though and allowed the Canadian to break twice before eventually coming out on top.
The Canadian looked far more dangerous after her second break of the Wozniacki serve and carried the form into the second set.
Wozniak looked more like a competitor as opposed to the spectator on show in the opening set, mixing up her shot types and manoeuvring the Dane to all corners of the court.
Wozniak, who dropped out of the top 100 due to an injury-plagued 2010 season, showed a desire to climb the rankings again, forcing Wozniacki to make numerous errors early on in the second set.
Both women held serve throughout the second set, although the underdog did so far more convincingly, forcing the Dane to work hard to stay in contention for the set.
Similar to the first set, both players had chances to break serve, although this time neither took their opportunities and after a confident showing from Wozniak, who seemed to be enjoying the clay surface, the top seed was forced into a tie-break after struggling to hold serve in the 12th game.
The breaker saw Wozniak take an early lead and she fashioned three set points.
At that point, Wozniacki caused a short delay by querying a decision.
The stoppage slowed Wozniak's momentum and Wozniacki, who received a number of boos and whistles from the crowd for her questioning of the umpire, won the next five points to advance into the third round where she will face Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova.
Despite the victory, it was by no means a confident or convincing performance from Wozniacki and she will need to show signs of improvement if she is to reach the latter stages at Roland Garros and grab that elusive major crown.
Wozniacki admitted she was fortunate to escape a decider, saying: "It was a tough match. I started off really well and everything was going the way I wanted it to.
"In the second set she played better and I started to play a little bit worse. Thankfully I finished it in two sets. It could easily have been three.''
The Dane, naurally more at home on hardcourts but a winner on clay in Brussels last weekend, was reluctant to discuss her title chances.
Wozniacki added: "I've had great results on clay so far this year. I'm feeling comfortable and confident on the clay. We will just see. The next match will be a tough one. Hopefully I can pull through.''