Caroline Wozniacki advances into the semis of Brussels Ladies Open after local Wickmayer retires
Top seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki earned a retirement victory against sixth seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer at 2011 Open de Bruxelles, a red clay court tournament held in Brussels, Belgium.
The 21-year-old Belgian was trailing 0-30 in the third game when she was forced to retire due to an injury on Thursday.
The world number one Wozniacki advanced just after eighteen minutes from the start of the match when the Belgian, ranked 21 places below her, was forced to retire due to a lower back injury. As a result, Wozniacki extended her
lead in the head-to-head series against Wickmayer by 4-0.They last met each other two weeks back at Rome where the Dane downed the Belgian with a breadstick.
Winning the toss, Wozniacki opted to serve which she held plausibly after a deuce. The Dane wasn’t at her best as she committed many unforced errors to level the points in this first game. She clinched the first game after the
Belgian hit the shot into the net and took the lead by 1-0.
20-year-old stormed into the second game and with her blistering forehands, she earned triple breakpoints before Wickmayer took a medical break to attend to a pulled muscle. After the match resumed, Wozniacki succeeded in converted
the breakpoint opportunity to her advantage when the Belgian’s forehand jumped over the line. After breaking the Belgian’s serve, Wozniacki extended her lead by 2-0 in the opening set.
The Dane was leading 30-0 in the third game when Wickmayer was forced to retire as she was unable to carry on the match because of severe pain.
The Belgian had monotonous form this season but she was fired up here at her home soil and could’ve posed a huge threat to the Dane but injuries led her down.
The Danish number one is in top form this season so far and with her exceptional skills, she won the titles at Dubai, Indian Wells and Charleston. She also made final berth at Doha and Stuttgart and reached the semi-final at Rome
before entering this WTA Premier event. Wozniacki dumped American Varvara Lepchenko in straight sets in her second round match to reach this last eight spot.
Up next for Wozniacki is the third seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone.
"Caroline has a lot of big qualities - she has been No.1 for a long time now," Schiavone said. "I'll have to play really well to beat her. Both of us are playing very relaxed and just trying to improve our form with a big Grand
Slam coming… I'll need to run a lot, but it's okay - it's my job."
The Dane leads Schiavone 3-2 in their head-to-head series. However, the Italian reached this spot after trashing Japanese Ayumi Morita in straight sets and is in great form.
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