TOKYO, Sept 24: Former world No 1e Caroline Wozniacki squeezed through to the second round of the Pan Pacific Open, just one day after ending a 13-month title drought in South Korea.

The Dane made hard work of beating Serb qualifier Bojana Jovanovski 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 in a match halted for an hour in the third set by lightning flashes and torrential rain.

Nine of the world’s top 10 women are competing in Tokyo this week at the $2.16 million event, with the leading eight seeds receiving byes into the second round.

Wozniacki, who captured the Korea Open on Sunday, powered through a first set played in a warm breeze before fatigue hit her in the second.

The heavens broke at 3-3 in the decider and Wozniacki, down 15-30, eventually dropped her serve after waiting for the roof to be closed and the waterlogged court to be mopped dry.

Normal service was quickly resumed, however, as the 10th seed took the next three games to wrap up victory in two hours 17 minutes after forcing Jovanovski into a wild backhand.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding): First round: 10-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) bt Bojana Jovanovski (Serbia) 6-0, 3-6, 6-4; 16-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3); Zheng Jie (China) bt Vania King (US) 6-3 6-4; Heather Watson (Britain) bt Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3); 15-Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) bt Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spain) 6-1, 6-4; Julia Goerges (Germany) bt Monica Niculescu (Romania) 6-3, 6-2; Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) bt Chanelle Scheepers (South Africa) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5; 9-Marion Bartoli (France) bt Kimiko Date-Krumm (Japan) 6-1, 6-4; Francesca Schiavone (Italy) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; Tamira Paszek (Austria) bt Camila Giorgi (Italy) 6-4, 6-3; Urszula Radwanska (Poland) bt Kurumi Nara (Japan) 6-2, 6-4; Simona Halep (Romania) bt Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) 6-2, 6-3; Johanna Larsson (Sweden) bt Romina Oprandi (Switzerland) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; Pauline Parmentier (France) bt Alize Cornet (France) 6-3, 6-4; 17-Nadia Petrova (Russia) bt Peng Shuai (China) 6-1, 6-4; 11-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) bt Andrea Hlavackova (Czech Republic) 6-3, 2-0 — Hlavackova retired; Jamie Hampton (US) bt Caroline Garcia (France) 6-2, 6-2; Klara Zakopalova (Czech Republic) leads Hsieh Su-Wei (Taiwan) 6-3, 3-4 — play suspended. —Reuters