Caroline Wozniacki advances to semis in Indian Wells
World number one Dane Caroline Wozniacki advances to semi-final at the 2011 BNP Paribas open on Thursday after world number nine Belarusian Victoria Azarenka was forced to retire from the match.
The top seeded Dane has enjoyed top form in the season so far, as she recently won the title at Dubai after overpowering 16th seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets. She also reached the final at Doha before
losing to 2nd seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva. Wozniacki entered this WTA event with a good touch and after losing to Jelena Jankovic in the last year’s final here, she is bidding to win this time. The Dane dumped 22nd seeded Russian Alisa
Kleybanova with a breadstick to reach this spot.
After winning this match, she is now enjoying a 17-3 win-loss record this season so far. She also extended her head to head lead against the Belarusian by 4-2.
Despite early exits from other tournaments, the 8th seeded Belarusian was in great form in this tournament. She triumphed over ninth seeded Polish Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets to reach this spot.
Both player displayed awesome tennis and were at their top forms. In the opening serve, Wozniacki saved a break point and after extended deuce, she finally held her serve with a massive forehand down the line and put herself on
the score board.
In the next game, Azarenka managed to deuce the set with the help of Wozniacki’s unforced errors. The 20-year-old Dane led the points to advantage with a ferocious backhand winner and later finally broke Belarusian’s serve to make
the score 2-0.
The top notch Wozniacki was leading 30-0 in the third game when Azarenka called the trainer for help. A true concerned friend, Wozniacki came close to the net to ensure problem isn’t too serious. After a ten minutes medical break,
the Belarusian returned but only to see her losing the game by 40 – love game points.
"Victoria is one of my best friends on the tour, and to see her in pain on the court and to see her get injured was not nice for sure," Wozniacki said.
After the third game, Azarenka signaled and shook Dane's hands and retired from the tournament.
Overall, Wozniacki had a higher first serve percentage of 94 percent as compared to Belarusian's 88 percent. She also registered an impressive 67 percent win on it. Along with this, she saved four break points in these three games
and earned more on return points.
Wozniacki's will next face either the 16th-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova or unseeded surprise Chinese Peng Shuai on the hard-courts of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Friday. The former top-ranked and three-time major champion
Sharapova won the title here in 2006.
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