Caroline Wozniacki: 'First round is always tough'

Caroline Wozniacki has admitted that the first round at a Grand Slam event is always tough, after she beat American Taylor Townsend 7-6 6-2 at the Australian Open.

The eighth seed avoided joining the eight seeded players that were knocked out in the women's draw yesterday to set up a second-round meeting with two-time champion Victoria Azarenka.

The Dane told reporters: "You always know that first one, maybe it's not going to be that comfortable. You saw yesterday how many seeds went out.

"Especially I knew that Taylor has a tricky game because she's a lefty first of all, she knows how to get that serve into your body.

"She comes to the net, mixes up the pace, so I knew it wasn't going to be the most beautiful game out there from my side. But I just needed to grind it out and just stay with her."

Wozniacki has never failed to reach at least the third round at the Australian Open.