Wozniacki grabs first win over Serena
Originally published on: 28/03/12 09:47
She’s no longer No.1, but Caroline Wozniacki produced a performance worthy of a top ranked player by defeating Serena Williams for the first time in her career to reach the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open.
The 21-year-old Dane had lost all three of her previous bouts with the 13-time Grand Slam champion – in Sydney and Doha in 2009 and in the semi-finals of the US Open in 2011 – but she recorded her first win over the American after a flying start.
Wozniacki scored the break that made the difference in the third game of the opening set and broke twice in the second– though Williams recovered one break for 5-3 – before serving out the match to reach the last four in Miami for the first time.
“I think she definitely served the best she served in her career,” said Williams, who proceeded to lament her own mistakes. “I just made a tremendous amount of errors. There’s no reason for that,” said the five-time Miami champion. “I’m older and I shouldn’t do that. There’s no excuse. I’ve just got to stop that. It’s silly.”
Wozniacki has slipped to No.6 after failing to defend her Indian Wells title but the Monte Carlo resident recently said she would not be drastically altering the game that carried her to top spot in the first place. Her scalp of Serena might further cement that belief, and she admitted it gave her hopes of getting back to No.1 a welcome boost.
“It definitely gives you confidence,” said the Dane. “Hard work always pays off, so, you know, I just need to keep going, keep working hard, and there’s always room for improvements.”
Wozniacki, who had already surpassed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Petra Cetkovska and Yanina Wickmayer before beating Williams, will play Maria Sharapova in the last four, having lost to the 24-year-old Russian in three of their five WTA encounters. The other semi-final has not yet been set, with Agnieszka Radwanska due to play Venus Williams and Marion Bartoli due to take on defending champion and world No.1 Victoria Azarenka.
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