New York-Caroline Wozniacki’s dramatic resurgence continued Tuesday when the former world number one defeated a hobbling Anastasija Sevastova to reach a fourth US Open semi-final.
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It is an intriguing semi-final clash between Wozniacki, a former world No. 1 who has never won a Grand Slam title, and Kerber, the No. 2 who claimed her first Major at the Australian Open in January.
The world number 74 benefited from an ankle injury to her opponent in the second game, and she raced away to win the first set without conceding a game in 31 minutes.
“I always believe in myself, no matter what my ranking”, said Wozniacki, whose ranking should now rebound into the 30s following the tournament.
“I’ve beaten pretty much everyone in the draw before”. Former world number one Wozniacki, the runner-up in 2009 and 2014, downed American eighth seed Madison Keys 6-3, 6-4 to make the last-eight in NY for a fifth time yesterday. “So I feel real sorry for her”, Wozniacki said in an on-court interview in Arthur Ashe Stadium. “I think she does an wonderful job keeping the balls deep in the court, so you feel like you can’t dictate the point right away, which I think makes people go for things too soon”.
“Back then I was just trying and grinding for staying at the top of the rankings for as long as possible”, added the Danish star who keeps a second home in NY. Asked again about her long-term plans, Wozniacki said she was only focusing on the immediate future. I was depressed and it just wasn’t fun anymore.
However, he did take a set off the Serb in the US Open quarter-finals in 2013. Kerber brought Italian Roberta Vinci’s Flushing Meadows dream run to an end with a clinical 7-5, 6-0 win yesterday. I fought all I could, and just came up a bit short.
“It’s been great at periods in my career and then it’s been really bad in periods where I am like, ‘I don’t know why the timing isn’t there, ‘” said Wozniacki. There are four matches on Sunday, four on Monday.
“It’s always tough to play Roberta, she always comes out to play great tennis”, said Kerber, who last made the semi-finals in NY in 2011. “I always play so good here – maybe it’s the crowd, the atmosphere, the food. everything”.
If the German prevails tomorrow and goes on to dethrone Williams as world No. 1, Wozniacki will be one of the first to congratulate her.
Angelique Kerber’s bid for world number one remains on track, as Caroline Wozniacki joined her in the US Open quarter-finals.
Perhaps buoyed by sleeping in her own bed and eating her mom’s cooking, Wozniacki is feeling good about her play after a poor year that featured a right ankle injury in April.
As she walked to the sideline, Vinci looked at the line judge who made the call and smiled sarcastically, giving him a thumbs-up and applauding with her racket.
“It’s really all that I can do right now”.
ON THIS DATE (Sept. 5, 1990): In a quarterfinal match, Pete Sampras outlasts Ivan Lendl 6-4, 7-6, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, ending Lendl’s streak of eight consecutive U.S. Open finals.
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“It’s tough to play well or not well when you’re injured”, she said of her season.
