Former world number one tennis star, Caroline Wozniacki takes on the former number five, Sara Errani, in the first round of the Madrid Open. Who will win this exciting contest at the Manolo Santana tennis court? The 36-year-old Italian looked in good touch at the qualifiers, while the 33-year-old Dane played her last match at the Charleston Open earlier this month.

Both of them have faced each other several times in their career. So they are now quite aware of their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. It will be interesting to see who utilizes the conditions better and comes out with a victory in this intriguing faceoff.

Caroline Wozniacki vs Sara Errani: Preview

Wozniacki didn’t have a great start to her season in 2024, but she made a strong comeback at the Indian Wells this year. She reached the QF in that tournament but was forced to retire in the middle of the match against Iga Swiatek due to a right-toe injury. After that, she took part in two more tournaments before taking her flight to Madrid. In her last match in the Charleston Open, Caroline Wozniacki was defeated by Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina by 2-6, 3-6. Her performance was pretty much ordinary in that match.

The Dane hit one ace and committed only a single double fault in the entire match. Her first serve win percentage was around 53%, while it was reduced to 30% when it came to her win percentage on her second serve against Kalinina. However, she managed to convert her sole breakpoint in the match and won four of her service games against the Ukrainian.

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Caroline Wozniacki has a record of seventeen aces this season but has committed twenty-six double faults so far. She has won 65.9% of her service games and 44% of her return games in 2024. Can Wozniacki bring back her golden touch against Errani in her next match? Sara Errani, on the other hand, has already made a QF and a SF run this year. She will now be looking forward to making yet another deep run in the tournaments this year. Will Madrid be the start of several such runs?

It took Errani three sets to defeat Argentina’s Julia Riera in her first qualifier. Even in the next match, she had to fight a grueling three-setter to finish off the match against Spain’s Leyre Romero Gormaz by 7-5,4-6,6-1. Sara Errani failed to hit even a single throughout the match but committed two double faults against the Spaniard. Her first-serve percentage was a staggering 93%, and she won 56% of her first serve. But the numbers went down to 17% when it came to her win percentage on the second serve. She converted eight of her eighteen break points and won nine of her service games against Gormaz.

Sara Errani’s main weakness has been her serve over the past few years. Interestingly, she hasn’t yet hit a single ace this season but has already committed nineteen double faults. Wozniacki will surely know these stats better than anyone else at the moment. Errani has won 51.4% of her service games and 43.1% of her return games so far in 2024. Can Errani turn her weaknesses into her strengths against Wozniacki?

Wozniacki vs Errani: Head-to-Head

Both are experienced campaigners and have played plenty of matches in their careers. But talking about their previous meetings, Caroline Wozniacki currently leads the H2H by a 4-1 margin. They first met each other at the QF of the 2007 Latina, and in that match, Wozniacki defeated Errani by 6-1, 6-3. But the next year, Sara Errani came back with a similar two-set triumph over the Dane at the SF of the Slovenia Open in Portoroz. After that, it has been all ‘The Wozniacki Show’ in their last few encounters (Beijing, US Open and Istanbul).

In the previous encounter at the 2018 Istanbul Open, Caroline Wozniacki defeated Sara Errani by 5-7,6-3,6-3. In that match, Wozniacki managed to hit four aces, compared to Errani’s only one. But even here, Errani had a better first serve percentage (81%), but the Dane completely dominated the rest of the statistics. Who will dominate their match in Madrid?

Prediction: Wozniacki to win by two sets

Caroline Wozniacki has a win-loss record of 7-6 so far this season, while Sara Errani has a win-loss record of 13-10 in 2024. Although Wozniacki prefers to play on grass and hard courts, she reached the QF of the French Open in 2010 and 2017. On the other hand, Sara Errani loves playing on the clay and she’s in fact known as a clay-court specialist. Errani has won multiple titles on this surface and has also reached the finals of the French Open in 2012.

Talking about their playing styles, Wozniacki is a defensive baseline who is known for her counter-punching style of play. Her biggest weapon has been her two-handed backhands. She is often seen relying on this during her transition from a turning defense into offense during the matches. However, she has been often criticized for her defensive style of play. In 2020, The Guardian described her as  “one of the most defensive players to ever reach No. 1“. Her weakest shot is her forehand and she finds it a bit awkward to slide on the clay courts. The sluggish nature of the clay courts causes a major hindrance to her natural movements.

Errani would love to fully capitalize on her chances in her game and try to force Wozniacki towards her weaknesses. Errani is known for producing a high first-serve percentage. But her biggest weakness has been her serve. Her shoulder issues prove to be a major hindrance to putting the fire in her serves. So, looking at the experience of playing in the big games and their overall numbers, Wozniacki looks to be the winner of this thriller contest.