Four-time champion Caroline Wozniacki is out of the Connecticut Open. The former top-ranked player from Denmark lost 7-5, 6-2 to Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia Monday in the first round of the final warmup for the US Open. Wozniacki, now ranked 51st, was coming off a second-round loss to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic at the Olympics. Kvitova advanced Monday with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over American Louisa Chirico. Ostapenko, 19, reached the final at Doha in February and won the Wimbledon junior girls tournament in 2014. The key moment Monday came in the first set when Wozniacki was up 5-3 and serving for the set. Ostapenko broke Wozniacki's serve twice in taking the next four games, then reeled off another four straight wins in the second set to close out the win. "After that, the match turned the other way," Ostapenko said of her service breaks. "She's a great player ... so I just played like I had nothing to lose." The 39th-ranked Ostapenko will face top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the second round. Wozniacki served for set point up 5-3 but mishit a return, giving Ostapenko a chance to rally. "The thought was there, but the execution wasn't there," Wozniacki said. Wozniacki's early exit leaves the tournament with four players in the WTA's Top 20 — Radwanska, Roberta Vinci of Italy, Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Elena Vesnina of Russia. Vesnina and Eugenie Bouchard of Canada won their opening matches. Bouchard rolled past Annika Beck of Germany 6-2, 6-1, while Vesnina beat Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-1, 6-4. The 20th-ranked Vesnina arrived in New Haven on the heels of a doubles gold medal at the Rio Olympics with Ekaterina Makarova. She reached her first major singles semifinal at Wimbledon. In other matches Monday, Anastasija Sevastova beat Nicole Gibbs of the United States 7-5, 6-0, and Caroline Garcia of France completed a rain-delayed 6-1, 6-4 victory over Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania. Serena and Kerber qualify for finals Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber, battling it out for the world No. 1 ranking, are the first two women to qualify for the season-ending WTA Tour Finals in Singapore, the WTA said Monday. World No. 1 Serena, who leads Kerber by 190 ranking points, has won the title five times but missed last year's event through injury. Kerber will be making her fourth appearance in the Oct. 23-30 event, reserved for the top eight-ranked players of the year.
