Wozniak falls short in Florida final

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki defeated Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que., 6-1, 6-2 to win The MPS Group Championships on Sunday.

Wozniacki, from Denmark, won 84 per cent of her first serve points in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour clay-court season opener and took advantage of several mistakes.

Wozniak never mounted a charge and down 3-1 in the first set double-faulted away two games.

Each player held serve in the second until Wozniacki broke her opponent at 3-2. Wozniak, who committed 31 unforced errors, won only three points the last two games in a match that lasted only 63 minutes.

"My plan was to play aggressive and make her run," Wozniacki said. "This is a great start to the clay-court season, a really good start. I proved I can beat these better players."

As a precaution, Wozniacki played for the second straight match with her right thigh taped. She said the leg had stopped hurting since Saturday and was once again able to use her speed to track down balls all match.

"The speed is one of my plusses," she said.

She also did not have the same dizziness and nausea as experienced in her semifinal win over Elena Vesnina. During that match trainers attended to her several times and took her blood pressure on court.

In the final, she kept ice bags nearby and occasionally used them on her legs.

"They were precautionary," she said. "I didn't want the same thing to happen today as happened (Saturday)."

The win was Wozniacki's first of the season and fourth career title and she took home US$37,000 of the tournament's $220,000 purse.

"I came up short," Wozniak said. "I missed key shots and she took advantage of all my mistakes. You get so close and then lose, it is sad."

Wozniak, who is coming back from a tendon tear in her right shoulder, said she still is hurting and the pain helped contribute to her six double faults, including those in the first set.

"It's getting better but still hurts every time I serve," she said. "You just try to not think about it."

In doubles, unseeded Chia-Jung Chuang and Sania Mirza upset top-seeded American Lisa Raymond and Kveta Peschke 6-3, 4-6 10-7 to win the doubles title.

Chuang, from Taiwan, and Mirza, from India, jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the tiebreaker and withstood a charge from Raymond and Peschke.

The winners lost out on one match point while leading 9-6 but Mirza ended the match with a hard forehand from the baseline that split the defenders.

"In the tiebreak, it's anybody's match," Mirza said. "We played the important points well."

Chuang and Mirza picked up $11,000 for the win.