Caroline Wozniacki topples Klara Zakopalova to enter semis – KDB Korea Open 2012
Top seed, Caroline Wozniacki, dumped the Czech veteran, Klara Zakopalova, in straight sets at the KDB Korea Open Tennis Championship 2012 on Friday. She notched up a 6-2, 6-3 victory against the 30-year-old to power into the semi-finals at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International event held in Seoul, South Korea.
The Danish number one showed top class performance to carve out the victory in one hour and 15 minutes. The players last fought each other at the Copenhagen WTA event two years ago and after stealing this show, Wozniacki improved to a 3-0 lifetime in the head-to-head series against the Czech.
The former world number one, Wozniacki high-spiritedly entered the Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center. She drew the first blood in the second game and jumped to a 3-0 lead. The Dane maintained consistency in her game and after capitalising on another break chance, she took a 5-1 lead. Apart from losing her edge in the very next game, Wozniacki broke the Czech’s serve once again and closed out the opener with a 6-2 win.
Currently ranked 11th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Wozniacki kept momentum rolling in the following set. She unleashed flurry of groundstrokes and reeled off five games in a row. Despite losing her serve in the seventh game, the Dane plucked her serve once more and clinched the set with a 6-3 score line.
This is the first time Wozniacki reached semis at this outdoor hard court event. The last time she played here was in 2006 when she was standing at number 292 and in 2007 when she was ranked number 70 in the WTA Premier Rankings. Wozniacki stated in a court-side interview after the match:
"When I qualified here in 2006, before they placed the qualifiers I was pretty sure it was going to be me playing Hingis - and it turned out to be me! I was very nervous going into the match. It was like there was no chance I was going to win, because I was so nervous playing against my role model. This is my first time back here in Seoul since 2007. The tournament has changed a lot since then, but the people are as nice and polite as always and it's really nice to be back."
Next in queue for the Dane is eighth seeded Ekaterina Makarova from Russia who slaughtered the defending champion, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, with double breadsticks to set up this epic duel.
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