NEW YORK – Talk about bad feng shui.
In the opening game, a looping forehand by Carolina Wozniacki was called long. .The top seed from Denmark challenged the call and won, the replay showing the ball bounced right on the baseline.
Wozniacki won the replayed point to break her opponent’s serve and never looked back as she needed only 47 minutes to easily advance to the third round of the US Open 6-0 6-0 Thursday.
For Chang Kai-Chen, it was a familiar feeling. The 19-year-old from Chinese Taipei – Taiwan for everyone except the international organization set – was playing Wozniacki in the second round for the second straight Grand Slam tournament. She lost to her Danish foe at Wimbledon in June.
Chang didn’t just disappear in the match. Instead, she gave her opponent a good workout under another hot, sunny day at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, a day that was tempered somewhat by a welcome cooling breeze. But whatever Chang did, Wozniacki did it better. Most of the points ended in either Wozniacki ripping a winner or Chang hitting long, wide or into the net.
“I am feeling strong. I feel confident. Yeah, it’s good. I go out there and I don’t give up. I don’t give any free points away. I think that’s one of my strengths,” Wozniacki said.
The winner acted as if she had a taxi waiting outside Arthur Ashe Stadium with the meter running. She raced through the first set in just 22 minutes, and then needed just 25 more to move into the next round.
It appeared as if Chang would finally get on the scoreboard to begin the second set when she built a 40-15 lead on her serve. But several miscues, including a forehand wide and a backhand into the net, was capped by a double fault as she dropped serve yet again.
Chang then changed tactics but not the result in her next service game. Four times she hit great approach shots deep into the corner and went to the net. On the first two, she volleyed the ball into the net. The third time she sent an overhead long.
When Chang’s new look finally resulted in a point for her, the crowd responded with warm applause. It was one of the rare occasions the fans had to back the teen-ager.
Wozniacki reached the final on these hard courts a year ago, where she lost to Kim Clijsters. This year she has been one of the hottest players on the women’s tour, winning four tournaments and the US Open Series. The latter puts her in line to win a USD $1 million bonus should she capture the title.
Chang, on the hand, made her Grand Slam tournament debut at the US Open last year, where she reached the second round. Since then she has mostly played – and lost – in qualifying.
Wozniacki isn’t through with her Far Eastern tour. Her next opponent will be Chan Yung-Jan of Chinese Taipei, a 6-3 6-3 winner Thursday over Tamira Paszek of Austria. At one time, Chang and Chan were one of the top doubles teams in the world. They have since split up and Chan now plays with China’s Zheng Jie.
There were two upsets Thursday in an early women’s match. American upstart Beatrice Capra, playing in her first Grand Slam tournament main draw, knocked off 18th-seeded Aravane Rezai of France 7-5 2-6 6-3. The 18-year-old was the recipient of a wild card into the main draw.
In a battle of left-handers, Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder beat 22nd-seeded Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 7-6 (2) 6-4. Making her 14th US Open appearance, Schnyder has twice reached the quarterfinals.
This is Schnyder’s 57th Grand Slam tournament singles main draw appearance. She had played 52 in a row since the 1997 Australian Open, but a left foot injury kept her out of the Australian Open this past January, snapping her string.
Also grabbing spots in the third round were seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva, 11th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and number 15 Yanina Wickmayer.
Zvonareva defeated Germany’s Sabine Lisicki 6-1 7-6 (5), Kuznetsova stopped Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova 6-2 6-3, while Wickmayer downed Julia Goerges of Germany 6-4 7-5.
American Mardy Fish, who is seeded 19th in the men’s singles, moved into the third round with a 7-5 6-0 6-2 triumph over Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.
“He really started out great, really sort of uncharacteristic to what I thought he was going to play like,” Fish said of Cuevas. “I never played him, practiced with him, played him in doubles, none of that, or seen him play all that much.
“I knew he was sort of a typical slow court player, and he took to the hard courts really well in the beginning. I was sort of surprised how aggressive he was playing.”
A few loose points by Cuevas were all Fish needed to sew up the opening set, a factor he said was key to his victory.
“He gave me a few points in that 5-4 game and the 6-5 game to allow me to win that first set, which was huge, because the weather, it was pretty hot,” Fish said. “The first set is huge in this type of weather.”
In other early men’s matches, 21st-seeded Albert Montanes beat Carsten Ball 6-4 6-3 6-1 and Arnaud Clement advanced when Eduardo Schwank retired while trailing 6-3 5-5