Angelique Kerber celebrated her rise to the number one position in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings by cruising past Caroline Wozniaki in the semi-final of the ongoing 2016 US Open.
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In the semis Kerber will meet an opponent familiar with being on top of the world – Caroline Wozniacki, who has had a awful injury-plagued year in 2016 with a ranking now outside the Top 70, but this fortnight dialing back the clock to the years she reigned at No. 1.
Australian Open champion Kerber defeated Italy’s Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-0 to reach her second semi-final in NY having also made the last four in 2011.
“I’m still trying to stay focused on match to match”, she said.
“I do not know if Caroline will only play the rest of the season or if she will play another one”, he told Ekstra Bladet.
While the first three rounds were easy as expected, she has since come up against Petra Kvitova and Roberta Vinci, not struggling in either despite winning two of the four sets across those matches 7-5.
She came out to play good tennis. “I’m just grinding my way back, and hopefully I’ll have two more matches here”.
“I’m very happy at the thought of going back to Wuhan again and meeting with the enthusiastic Chinese fans there”, Wozniacki said.
“She’s an awesome mover”, said Keys, who was bidding for her first US Open quarterfinal.
“So Australia gives me a lot of confidence that I can go for it also in the big tournaments, win close matches, and also playing, yeah, on the big stages against great players as well”.
While not competing, Wozniacki kept her social-media channels busy with red-carpet launches and photo-shoots, including her body-painted appearance for Sports Illustrated.
It’s an intriguing semi-final clash between a former world No. 1 who has never won a Grand Slam title and the current No. 2 who claimed a first Major at the Australian Open in January.
The two-time US Open finalist, who has used boxing work-outs for conditioning and has had the support of former heavyweight boxer Andrew Golota in her support box, said she tried to strike a balance between consistency and aggression. Kerber moved into her third major semifinal of the year.
ON THIS DATE (Sept. 7, 1953): Maureen Connolly becomes the first woman to complete a Grand Slam, beating Doris Hart 6-2, 6-4 for the women’s singles title. “We would still go on vacations, but the problem is like Aga is getting married, so then all of a sudden we’re like, we just want a girls trip, but it’s tough when everyone has their own thing”, said Wozniacki. Puig, the star of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro when she won her country’s first ever gold medal, was a huge disappointment at Flushing Meadows.
On Thursday, Wimbledon champions Serena Williams and Andy Murray raised the roof at the US Open, powering into the third round with decisive straight-sets victories.
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NEW YORK (AP) – Doesn’t matter to Caroline Wozniacki that she’s ranked 74th. “The crowd is always supporting me and is sweet to me”. She has battled an ankle injury most of the year, and after ending 2015 at No. 17, Wozniacki has dropped all the way to No. 74.
