Peter Bodo has been covering tennis for over 35 years, mostly recently for ESPN.
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In November 2014, Wozniacki completed the 26.2-mile NY marathon in a remarkable time of 3:26:33.
At heart, Caroline Wozniacki is a marathoner.
After missing the French Open between first round exits at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, expectations were low ahead of the final major tournament of the year, but Wozniacki has run into form in NY.
The most surprising aspect of the match was that Wozniacki backed up her serve with more vigilance. Injuries haven’t allowed her to play the kind of tennis that enabled her to reach the top of the rankings. Her powerful game can translate on any surface.
It just might come Sunday – the last Sunday for American families to crowd around their TVs before the National Football League season – when she faces former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round.
The 26-year-old is making her own comeback after retiring in 2013 due to injuries. Like a veteran distance runner, she isn’t craning her neck, trying to spot the finish line.
“I can’t believe I’m here in the quarterfinals”, Wozniacki said. So at that point, whether I’m 20 in the world or 100 in the world, it doesn’t matter.
“I love to play here. But for now, I’m just here to play this tournament”, she added.
A rueful Keys agreed. “[I was] feeling how deep she’s hitting the ball and feeling that I can’t get on the offense right away”.
Playing with power reminiscent of the Williams sisters in their younger days, Keys has Grand Slam champion potential. But unlike a few of those losses, this was neither shocking nor complicated.
The two have met once before with Wozniacki winning easily in straight sets at the 2011 Australian Open.
In 2015, Vinci reached her first major final by stunning Williams to end the American’s bid for the first calendar-year Grand Slam in tennis in more than a quarter century.
The two-time former finalist would hold and demolish Sevastova the rest of the opening set, keeping her foot on the gas pedal to win all six games of the first set in 31 minutes. “It always feels good to hear Serena say something like that”.
The 26 year old continued: “Hopefully I have two more matches here”. “Now I’m like, I don’t have to do anything”.
“Lately, I have just been taking lots of naps and watching movies”, she laughs when asked what she does off the court.
“Right now, for me, being 70-something, it doesn’t really mean much to me”. She also turned out to be something of a forecaster when she said, on Sunday, after beating No. 14-ranked Jo Konta, of Wozniacki, “She never makes a mistake”.
That was maybe a little bit of surprise.
The hype will be real, the stadium (likely with a closed roof) will be loud and the result will be meaningful for both players.
“But I thought, cool. At that point I knew I had to kind of step up or else I was going to be going home”, she said.
Keys had just one break point.
Nine of the top 10 women tennis players in the world have confirmed that they would take part in this year’s tournament, the Wuhan Open organizing committee said.
The match ended fittingly, with Wozniacki serving it out confidently.
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When she finally did win a game – the 11th of the match, 52 minutes in – Sevastova threw her head back and smiled.
