Wozniacki dents Sharapova’s No.1 chances
Originally published on 22/10/14
Sharapova, who despite spending a total of 21 weeks during five separate stints at the top of the world rankings, has never finished a season as year-end No.1. The French Open champion arrived in Singapore with the chance to replace Serena Williams at the top of the pile.
However, her hopes of returning to world No.1 suffered a blow on Tuesday as Sharapova was beaten 6-7(4) 7-6(5) 6-2 in an entertaining encounter that lasted three hours and 13 minutes.
Sharapova has won more three-set matches than any other player this season, but despite clawing her way back from 0-2 in the final set to level at 2-2, she could not prevent Wozniacki winning the final four games to wrap up victory.
"I'm feeling a little tired! But it was a great match,” said Wozniacki, who also beat Sharapova in the US Open fourth round last month. “The first one is always tough, getting your rhythm and getting used to everything out there, but in the third set I felt like I really stepped it up and really started being aggressive and going for my shots more.”
"As a competitor after a three-hour match, it's tough to be the one that loses it," said Sharapova. "But I'm not sitting in this chair thinking that there is nothing that I could have done. I really feel that a lot of the reasons why the match turned out that way is because of what I did. It's happened the last couple of times I played against her."
In the day’s second match Agnieszka Radwanska upset No.3 seed Petra Kvitova 6-2 6-3 as the Wimbledon champion was left to rue 42 unforced errors.
| Seed | White Group | MS | PK | AR | CW | Record | Set W-L | Games W-L |
| 2 | Maria Sharapova | – | L | 0-1 | 1-2 | 15-19 | ||
| 3 | Petra Kvitova | – | L | 0-1 | 0-2 | 5-12 | ||
| 6 | Agnieszka Radwanska | W | – | 1-0 | 2-0 | 12-5 | ||
| 8 | Caroline Wozniacki | W | – | 1-0 | 2-1 | 19-15 |
Now get the WORLD’S BEST TENNIS MAGAZINE here
