Main favorite Caroline Wozniacki is on her way in Auckland, New Zealand, scoring another convincing triumph, which places her in the quarter-finals and allows her to continue to dream about the world number one.
The 27-year-old Danish dispatched the Croatian Petra Martic, 90th in the WTA ranking, 6-2 and 6-2 on Wednesday, in no more than 54 minutes of play. For their almost immaculate performance they contributed to the 21 winners fired, in exchange for the eight unforced errors.
Garbiñe Muguruza's resignation in Brisbane, Australia, as the world's number three position, is now under pressure by Simona Halep, who is forced to win this morning's meeting in Shenzhen against Ying-Ying Duan (91st WTA), to ensure top ranking for another week. An (surprising) Romanian slippage would leave the doors wide open for Wozniacki to reach the top of the podium in case of victory in the Auckland tournament.
It is clear that in the quarter-finals, the Scandinavian player faces eighty-year-old Sofía Kenin, 108th in the standings, who took Varvara Lepchenko (63rd WTA) 6-4. 7-6.