• China Open

Pennetta overcomes wobble to topple Wozniacki

Flavia Pennetta rolls over a forehand © Getty Images

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• Profile: Ana Ivanovic | Flavia Pennetta | Agnieszka Radwanska | Caroline Wozniacki

Caroline Wozniacki's defence of her China Open title came to an end at the hands of Flavia Pennetta, who picked herself up from the depths of despair to down the world No. 1.

Wozniacki has found some good form in recent weeks after a tough summer and she looked well placed to progress after claiming the opening set, but Pennetta served up the sublime and the ridiculous to secure a 3-6 6-0 7-6(2) win.

Danish star Wozniacki produced some impressive play in the first set, forcing Pennetta behind the baseline with some quality hitting and two breaks of serve secured her the advantage.

But from nowhere Pennetta found some consistent excellence and it proved too much for Wozniacki as the Italian raced through the second set to love. She won the opening game of the third to make it seven games on the spin, before Wozniacki held to stop the rot.

But the respite was only brief as winners continued to fly off the Pennetta forehand and she secured a break to lead 3-1.

So often in the past Pennetta has tightened with the winning post in sight and she lost her serve twice, either side of an awful service game from Wozniacki, as the world No. 1 got back to 4-5.

Wozniacki held serve with ease, as errors flew off the Pennetta racket, and the Italian was completely rattled as she lost her serve once again to put her opponent within one game of victory.

It was Wozniacki's turn to wobble as, with the pressure off, Pennetta raised her game to break and force a tiebreak.

Pennetta carried the momentum into the breaker and she found some of her best form of the match to stun Wozniacki. Pennetta found the lines at great regularity and the defending champion had no answers as she was sent spinning out of the tournament - Pennetta's first victory over the Dane sealed with a fabulous lob.

There was disappointment for the crowd in Beijing as Ana Ivanovic was forced to retire when trailing 6-3 3-2 to Agnieszka Radwanska. The opening set saw some quality play from both players, with Radwanska edging it courtesy of a couple of breaks of serve.

Ivanovic took a medical timeout and roared back in style, hitting quality returns on both wings to secure a break of serve. But she meekly surrendered her serve on two occasions courtesy of telling double faults and offerered her hand to her opponent after an hour and 15 minutes.

Qualifier Monica Niculescu's fine run of form continued as she beat Maria Kirilenko in three sets and will face Andrea Petkovic who battled past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3 7-6(2).

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