Caroline Wozniacki: One win away from the top spot
The former world number one Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark can reclaim the No. 1 spot in the women’s rankings from Kim Clijsters by qualifying for the semi-finals at the Dubai Championships. The 20-year-old Dane dropped to the second
rank this Monday when the Australian Open winner Kim Clijsters of Belgium substituted her position in the newest release of WTA rankings.
The Grand Slam winner Clijsters moved closer to the Dane in points ranking by winning the Aussie Open crown. She further bagged a few hundred points with her victories at the Fed Cup and the Open GDF Suez to take over the top spot
from Caroline Wozniacki this week. Clijsters is missing this week’s tournament and this provides an excellent opportunity for the Dane to get to the world number one spot. All she needs to do is to make it to the semi-finals of the Dubai Championship which
will bridge the gap of 180 points between her and Clijsters.
Wozniacki started the tournament in a dominating mood and won her first match against the Russian Anna Chakvetadze. Although the match was not completed and Chakvetadze had to retire from the contest for the reason of her debilitating
health condition, but the Dane was well on course of winning it. She absolutely dominated the opening set by winning it at 6-1 and was leading the set number two by 5-3 when her opponent forfeited the match, leaving Wozniacki as the winner.
Wozniacki’s magnificent form was seen on Thursday when she completely outplayed Japan’s Ayumi Morita in straights at 6-1 and 6-0. The Japanese only won one game in the whole match and barely provided any resistance to the world
no.2. It looked as if Ayumi was a complete mismatch for the Dane as she rarely put any challenge in front of her opponent. Wozniacki comprehensively qualified for the quarter-final of the Dubai Championships.
The Dane now books a date with Shahar Peer of Israel in the quarterfinal. If Wozniacki wins and qualify for the semi-finals, she will exceed the point’s deficit between her and Clijsters to reclaim the number one spot in the WTA
rankings. Shahar Peer has defeated the Wozniacki in the third round of the same event last year and can surely give a tough time to her opponent. Even if the Dane loses in the semi-final, all matters for her is just to book a place in the match and that will
be enough to overthrow the Belgian number one from her rankings.
The world number two was asked about this chance of getting to the top once again, to which she plainly replied that she is never bothered by the rankings and feel no difference whether she is number one or number two in the ratings.
She said that she never looks at the ratings and only concentrate on her game play because she believes that her ratings will certainly get better if she will perform well.
“I have no idea. I don’t look at rankings,” said Wozniacki in her conversation to the press, “I go out there and play and do my best and the ranking comes afterwards.”
Caroline Wozniacki also has a second opportunity next week to claim the top spot if she fails to reach the semi-finals at the Dubai Championships. She can still claim the number one position if she qualify for the final of the
Qatar Ladies Open starting from the next week in Doha. It looks quite a possible task for the world number two to dismantle the injured Kim Clijsters and regain her top berth.
Caroline Wozniacki took the number one spot in the WTA rankings in October last year from Serena Williams, who is still out of the tennis action for her persistent foot injury. The Dane’s stay at the top was shortened by the reason
that she has failed to win any Grand Slam tournament in her career. Her farthest voyage in the Grand Slams has been to the final of the US Open 2009. Wozniacki was defeated in the semi-final of the Australian Open this year by Li Na.
Although Wozniacki told everyone that she is not concerned with the rankings, but being on top of the table is always the greatest desire of every professional player. The former world number one will surely put all of her efforts
in winning the quarter-final against Shahar Peer and reclaim the number one spot.
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