Impressive Wozniacki 'trying to stay aggressive' as she continues march in Auckland

Records 6-2, 6-2 victory over Croatia's Petra Martic to reach the quarter-finals of the Auckland Classic

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - JANUARY 03: (EDITORS NOTE: Multiple exposures were combined in camera to produce this image.) Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark serves in her match against Petra Martic of Croatia during day three of the ASB Women's Classic at ASB Tennis Centre on January 3, 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images) ***BESTPIX***

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark serves in her match against Petra Martic of Croatia during day three of the Auckland Classic at ASB Tennis Centre on January 3. Anthony Au-Yeung / Getty Images

Jan 03, 2018

Caroline Wozniacki continued to build on her WTA Finals victory late last year with another impressive performance on her way to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Croatia's Petra Martic to reach the quarter-finals of the Auckland Classic on Wednesday.

The Danish world No 3 ended 2017 with the biggest title of her career in Singapore and returned a day after thrashing Madison Brengle in her season opener to hit 21 winners against eight unforced errors in the 53-minute win over Martic.

"I'm trying to stay aggressive," Wozniacki said in a court-side interview. "I still made some unforced errors. It's taking a few matches to play like 100 per cent but I still felt I played pretty well today."

Top seed Wozniacki started brightly with a break of serve to love on her way to an early 3-0 lead and added another break in the eighth game to wrap up the opening set in just 24 minutes on a glorious day in New Zealand's largest city.

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Martic tried to mount a comeback early in the second when she broke for a 2-0 lead but Wozniacki won the final six games behind impressive serving numbers, including six aces, to book a last-eight encounter with young American Sofia Kenin.

"I've worked on everything I need to work on in the off-season," Wozniacki added as she continues her preparations for the Australian Open starting in Melbourne on January 15.

"Now it's just a matter of working out how to incorporate that into your match or into a situation where you maybe get nervous."

Kenin, a 19-year-old wild card, knocked out compatriot Varvara Lepchenko 6-4, 7-6 earlier in the day and there were also victories for Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova.

Hsieh eased to a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Belgian qualifier Ysaline Bonaventure to set up a quarter-final clash against Strycova after the third seeded Czech edged out Sweden's Johanna Larsson 6-1, 6-7, 6-2.