Caroline Wozniacki retires against Maria Kirilenko in semis – New Haven Open 2012
Third seed, Caroline Wozniacki, was forced to pull out from the New Haven Open at Yale where she was the four-time defending champion. After losing the opening set against the seventh seeded Maria Kirilenko, the Dane suffered a right knee injury and eventually
exited from the semi-finals at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier-level tournament.
The former world number one, Wozniacki was bidding to become the fourth player to win a WTA title five years running. She conquered the 25-year-old for five straight times and was inching towards her maiden year-to-date title. However, the injury lavished
her dreams and ended her impressive run in New Haven.
"I could feel it from the start, and it started to get a bit worse," the Dane reflected in a post match press conference. "I decided to stop because if you don't feel 100%, you can't compete at 100%. I wasn't going to win this match anyway if I'm not 100%
at a fit level."
Wozniacki was on a 20-0 lifetime at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center. She further stated: "It's definitely not the way I would have liked to finish here, having won four times. This event has meant a lot to me. There are a lot of players who never win a
title, and a lot of players who never win four titles. What happened this year was unfortunate, but I just need to move on."
The Danish top ranked star, Wozniacki assertively entered this Emirates Airline US Open Series event. She held her opening serve with poise and took the initial lead. The Dane maintained consistency in her game and continued plucking her serves until the
ninth game. Wozniacki lost her serve in the 11th game and failed to recover, subsequently enduring a 5-7 loss.
She smashed two vicious aces and despite clobbering a lower first serve share of 64 per cent as opposed to the Russian’s 78 per cent, the Dane jolted down 17 out of 23 points on it. However, Wozniacki failed to seek any break opportunity and dusted away
only two out of three breakpoints she came across, eventually losing the opener in 53 minutes.
After the opening set, the Dane was unable to play at her best due to the knee injury and decided to retire from the event.
The world number 14, Kirilenko on the other side of net secured a final berth, She will square off against second seeded Petra Kvitova who crippled Sara Errani in straight sets to set up this clash.
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