Sevastova twisted her right ankle on the first point of the second game and was unable to move properly the rest of the way against Wozniacki, a former No. 1 who is now ranked only 74th and hadn’t won a grand slam match in 2016 until last week.
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Before the U.S. Open began 10 days ago in NY, former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki had gone just 13-14 in 27 matches this season, a season interrupted by a bad sprained ankle which had sent her tumbling down the rankings to No. 74 in the world – her lowest in nine years.
“I know it sounds bad, but honestly, at this point I’m like, I really don’t care what my ranking is”, said Wozniacki who also beat ninth seed and former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova on her run to the last-eight.
While many of her rivals jet off to sunnier climes to practice between tournaments, Wozniacki is eager to spend as much time in her adopted home as possible – even if it takes her a little off the beaten track.
It’s been quite a resurgence for Wozniacki, who lost in the first round of the Australian Open, missed the French Open with that bum ankle, and lost in the first round of Wimbledon.
Caroline Wozniacki knows something about being No. 1 and she’s not afraid to talk about it. Furthermore, a couple of her fourth-round losses in the a year ago have been to much lower-ranked players, namely Kiki Bertens at the French Open and Shuai Zhang at the Australian Open.
“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.
Her ranking coming into NY was No. 74. She had lost seven of her last 12 matches entering the tourney and now is one victory away from an unlikely semifinal appearance. Sevastova had not won a match in NY since 2010 before this year and with her career unravelling she quit in May 2013 to study leisure management in Austria.
Meanwhile, Wozniacki is excited to be back in a Grand Slam semifinal (for the first time since the 2014 US Open).
“You kind of just put it in the back of your mind and use it to fuel yourself and get back out there and try to get better”. There are four matches on Sunday, four on Monday.
After Kerber defeated Vinci, she held up one finger signaling her quest for No. 1, and she’s certainly in the driver’s seat. “Doesn’t matter if it’s tennis, football, being a lawyer”.
Wozniacki will be in for a tough battle in the semi-finals where will face second seed Angelique Kerber, who downed seventh seed Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-0 earlier in the day. ‘ I have seen her results and she’s been doing great.
Against Wozniacki, she never really had a chance to play her best.
Wozniacki may have struggled this year, but she always believed she could go deep at the US Open.
“In the end, the head does a lot”, she added. Her dominance continued into the second, breaking Sevastova once again to start the set and opened up a 4-0 lead after breaking the Latvian again.
“I feel very good body-wise”.
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After Tsonga opened the third set with a double fault he called a halt.
