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No. 1 Wozniacki ends King's dream in Queens
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki fought through a sluggish morning start to polish off Vania King, 6-2, 6-4, in the third round.
"You know, I was fighting a lot out there, getting quite a lot of balls back," Wozniacki said.
The great Dane, who looked downright dominant in the early rounds, reached the US Open's Round of 16 for the fourth-straight year on a day where no particular component of her game was particularly sharp. For the match, Wozniacki had no aces and won only 56 percent (25-for-45) of points on first serve.
"It's quite windy out there, so it was difficult to play," she said. "Definitely the serve was difficult, as well, because it wasn't just going one way, the wind, it was going everywhere. You had to keep the margin over the net and from the lines.
"I found it very difficult to place the ball the places I wanted to, so quite a few times I was going for the safe serve. But as well I think she found it more difficult when I was kicking it a little bit."
King set the tone early by breaking Wozniacki in the very first service game, but the world No. 1 broke back after a back-and-forth series that saw King just miss outside the baseline on several returns. The Long Beach, Calif., product had the advantage in winners - 23 to 13 - but also committed 36 unforced errors to Wozniacki's 16.
"It's a pity, I had a lot of chances in the first I felt, a lot of breakpoint chances," King said. "She was a little bit more aggressive than I was, and, you know, obviously she's one of the best players out there. So I needed to step it up when I needed to, and she did it a little bit better than me today."
It was the second Grand Slam event clash for Wozniacki and King in 2011 - back in January, the two women met in the second round of the Australian Open with Wozniacki taking that match 6-1, 6-0. On Saturday, Wozniacki had high praise for her American opponent.
"I had a tough match against her at Indian Wells, and even though the score said 0 and 1 in Australia, we still played quite a tough match," she said. "We had a lot of good rallies out there ... a lot of tough games, so I knew it wasn't going to be easy today. I had to keep my focus and just go in there and just play for every point."
King also made the third round of the main singles draw in 2009, when she took down Australia's Sam Stosur before succumbing to Daniela Hantuchova. One half of the 2010 US Open women's doubles title-winning tandem with Kazahkstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, King remains in the hunt for a championship repeat, as the No. 3-seeded team battles the American wild card team of Jessica Pegula and Taylor Townsend in the third round.
Wozniacki will begin the the tournament's second week against the winner of the third round tilt between 2004 US Open champion, No. 15 Svetlana Kuznetsova and surprise story Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan, the final match today on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Should it be Kuznetsova on Monday, it would be the second Round of 16 match between the two in three years. Wozniacki prevailed in an intense three sets, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) at the 2009 Open, en route to the Women's Final.
Wozniacki admitted the rematch would be a huge test of her skill set.
"She can play very aggressive," she said of Kuznetsova. "Her serve is big, her forehand. It's not easy. I mean, it's a match that definitely would need me to play on my best. We have had quite some good matches in the past. I just remember there was a fantastic atmosphere out there."
Match Facts
- Wozniacki fired just 13 winners against King, after 30 in her first two 2011 Open matches.
- King double-faulted just once in the match.
- Wozniacki converted six break points in the contest to King's three.
Arthur Ashe Stadium - Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Caroline Wozniacki DEN (1) 6 6
Vania King USA 2 4
Serena Wiliams silences Victoria Azarenka in third round
Saturday, September 3, 2011
The match between Serena Williams and No. 4 seed Victoria Azarenka lived up to the hype in the second set with plenty of nail-biting rallies, and it was the former No. 1 who came out on top with a 6-1, 7-5 victory.
The first set was completely dominated by Williams, who broke the higher seed in her first service game and then followed it up with another break, rifling a forehand winner cross-court to take a 4-0 lead. Azarenka got on the board while serving down 0-5, but found the three-time US Open champion tracking down several shots that would have been winners against most players. Serena faced her first break point of the match in the next game but saved it with yet another forehand winner. Two points later, Williams nailed a backhand winner down the line to take the opening set.
Azarenka went down two break points in the opening game of the second set but managed to stave them off by going for broke on the few openings she had. The Belarussian wasn't quite as fortunate a few games later at 3-3, when the aggressive baseline tennis of Williams forced Azarenka into a pair of errors, giving the American a 4-3 lead.
With Azarenka serving to stay in the match at 3-5, the highest quality rallies of the match began to ensue. Azarenka saved three match points and won a lengthy deuce game to force Williams to serve the match out at 5-4. The former No. 1 earned a match point at 40-30, but a pair of well-timed forehands erased it. Three deuces later, a forehand passing shot from Azarenka leveled the match at 5-5, earning a standing ovation from the crowd.
Williams earned a mini-break to go up 3-1 in the second set tiebreaker, but a forehand winner from Azarenka in the next point brought things back to a neutral place at 3-2.
After several more points of hard fought tennis, a forehand error from Azarenka gave Serena her fifth match point at 6-5, which she converted when Azarenka sent one final groundstroke long to wrap up the match.
Williams will now play the winner between American wild card Sloane Stephens and No. 16 seed Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round.
Match Facts
- Williams hit 39 winners to 24 unforced errors
- Azarenka hit 18 winners to 22 unforced errors
- Williams hit 12 aces in the match and leads the women for total number of aces hit so far in the tournament
- Williams has not lost before the second week of the US Open since her debut year in 1998
- The US Open is the only Grand Slam Azarenka has not reached the quarterfinals of
Arthur Ashe Stadium - Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Victoria Azarenka BLR (4) 1 65
An Interview With: Caroline Wozniacki
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Q. Let's start with the positives: What today went right for you in the match?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I won. (Smiling). I think that's the most positive. It's great to be through. You know, I was fighting a lot out there, getting quite a lot of balls back. But it's quite windy out there, so it was difficult to play. Definitely the serve was difficult, as well, because it wasn't just going one way, the wind, it was going everywhere. Yeah, you had to keep the margin over the net and from the lines.
Q. Could you tell us what the best and worst advice you've ever received from both of your parents?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Best advice, probably just be happy, enjoy life.
Q. That's from both of your parents or either?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah. Well, and just if you believe in yourself and go for your dreams. I think that's pretty much, you know, all the positives. The worst advice my brother is in the back. Maybe he can help me out a little bit.
PATRIK WOZNIACKI: You got some maybe last week from dad.
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Okay, change the subject. (Laughter.) I don't know. I don't know what the worst is. I don't know. Well, I guess when you get bad advice it comes in here, it goes out there. So you don't remember.
Q. What's the best advice you get from your brother?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: You know, he thinks he's so smart all the time and he thinks he knows everything. But, again, you have to kind of just process the things he's saying and change a few things maybe sometimes. No, but he's great. Always saying just keep going. Keep I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. I think everyone is pretty similar, I guess when you I find it very difficult to speak today. (Laughter.) Put a sentence together.
Q. What is the best advice you get from your mysterious new coach?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Move your feet.
Q. You had some problems with your serve today. You were broken three times and you were on the ropes quite a bit. What was going on with that?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, it was very windy out there today. It wasn't just going one way. It was kind of shifting. I found it very difficult to place the ball the places I wanted to, so quite a few times I was going for the safe serve. But as well I think she found it more difficult when I was kicking it a little bit. She liked it when I was going flat and she could just put the racquet on and place it. I was trying to do a bit more, put it a bit more high over the net and try to get out of her striking zone.
Q. What was Vania doing specifically that maybe put you off or something? Because this was a player you beat pretty handily back at the Australian Open. Did she do something different today?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I had a tough match against her at Indian Wells, and even though the score said 0 and 1 in Australia, we still played quite a tough match. We had a lot of good rallies out there, but I just ended up winning most of them. But we had a lot of tough games. So I knew it wasn't going to be easy today. I had to keep my focus and just go in there and just play for every point.
Q. In Rafa's new book there is a pretty interesting section on golf.
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: In whose book?
Q. In Rafa Nadal's book. On golf. He talks about it's a fantastic game and you learn so much from it. You have to have discipline, concentration, and sort of forget all the problems you have. I don't mean to probe, and don't tell me anything I shouldn't know, but in just being around Rory and talking to him, have you picked up some of the travails and difficulties of that game?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Well, even though golf and tennis have some similarities, it's also much different. Golf is such a mental game. You're playing against the course. You're playing with yourself and trying to do a good score. You know, sometimes we can get into that spiral where you just think, Okay, I just can't hit it right, you know, or I just need to put it in the hole but it just keeps missing. It's so mental. If you stay positive and believe in yourself, it makes the game so much easier. So, you know, it's the same, similar in tennis, but you have an opponent, as well.
Q. You loved your boxing workouts a while ago. What did you learn from those?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Well, boxing is great. I get my aggressions out. It was fun, but it was hard, as well. You get to work your core, your arms, your shoulders. It was a lot of cardio, as well. You learn how to distribute your power as well, because the first time I actually went in the ring and tried just for fun to fight with someone. I just went all in in the beginning, and after two rounds you're dead. I realized you have to wait for your chances. I need to wait for the right moment. The same in tennis. You can't just go all in all the time. You need to play the ball and then wait for a right chance to go in and then attack.
Q. If you could have a knockout punch, would you prefer to give it to a tennis opponent or from us probing guys in the media?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I prefer not to knock out anyone. I'm a nice girl, so... Or I like to think so.
Q. You've had such an effective coaching relationship with your father. Could you see yourself down the road coaching a child of yours, or would you not want them...
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Not in tennis. I would not see myself being on a tennis court and coaching my child. I think that would be too stressful for me. I don't need stress. I just need to relax. I would probably want him to play football or any other sport just so I could sit on the sideline and just enjoy.
Q. Football?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Soccer. Keep my feet up. No, but I don't know, I just think tennis is a great sport. It's fantastic. I've had so many good experiences. But, yeah, to have my kids playing, I would just put them and give them to a coach or someone, yeah, who could teach them, because I have spent enough hours on court, I think.
Q. You may get Kuznetsova in the next round. What you do you respect about her game? And if you could, preview the next round, how you would play her.
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: To be honest, I haven't thought about how I'd play her. First she needs to win her match. She's a tough competitor. She can play very aggressive. Her serve is big, her forehand. It's not easy. I mean, it's a match that definitely would need me to play on my best. We have had quite some good matches in the past. And also, I think two years ago I played her here in the fourth round, night session, where I was down but came back. I just remember there was a fantastic atmosphere out there.
Q. You seem to be able to log a lot of matches on the tour. When you come to the US Open, are you 100% healthy? What percentage of the players do you think are not carrying some little injury of one sort or another?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Well, I think most of the players, every day they wake up there's something that they feel. Maybe they feel they have a sore butt or they feel their finger or their arm or whatever. But, you know, when you're out there on court you don't think about that little soreness or you just fight through it. You think about the yellow ball. You know, I think everyone is feeling something. Or if they don't, then, you know, by the end of weeks if they're doing well they probably will. It's a sport. It's not easy for the body. But, again, we do so much off court work and I do so much fitness that I'm preventing all the injuries and before they happen. Even though I have a strapped leg, I mean, I don't feel it anymore, but I do it for prevention now because I felt it a little bit in New Haven and I don't want it to come back. Maybe by next match, I don't know, I'll see how I feel. Maybe I'll take the tape off if I feel that it's ready.
Q. So you have been on a good run for the past couple weeks. How do you rate this state of your game today?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Well, yeah, I've been playing pretty well the last two weeks. I won New Haven and I've made the fourth round now. I feel like my game is on the right track, and looking forward to the next one.
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