Serena Williams stuns Caroline Wozniacki to reach the quarter-finals – Mutua Madrid Open 2012
In the battle between the two former world number one contenders, legendary American tennis veteran, Serena Williams, came out victorious to grab a spot in the quarter-final rounds of the Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday. The ninth seed American outperformed the current world number six, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, in three gruelling sets, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, to drive her out of the tournament in commanding fashion.
Both top class competitors battled for one hour and 42 minutes on the new blue clay surface of Madrid, Spain, before Serena could deliver the decisive blow in the third set. The 30-year-old suffered a 4-6, 4-6 defeat at the hands of Wozniacki in the quarter-final round of the Miami Masters earlier this year. It was the payback time for Serena and she pulled down the sixth seed Dane to improve 4-1 in the all-time head-to-head series against Wozniacki.
21-year-old Wozniacki was off to a blistering start and raced through the games to bag the opener with a breadstick. Her momentum was halted in the very next set when Serena came out with all her guns blazing and clinched the second set to level the match score at 1-1. A more intense third set was anticipated by the local crowd at Madrid but it was the vintage class and sheer power-hitting of Serena which prevailed in the contest. She spared just two games for the sixth seed Dane and concluded her emphatic victory with authority to reach the final-eight of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Mandatory event.
"The first set was not me at all," Serena said in her post match reviews. "I had a really slow start today. I don't know why, I was just a little sluggish and mentally I was fighting some demons maybe. I hadn't been playing like that and I wasn't playing like that. I was just like, 'I gotta do better than this."
Up next for ninth ranked Serena is the slender-legged Russian diva, Maria Sharapova, in the quarter-final round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
"She's been playing really well and has the upper hand going into tomorrow's match with so much momentum in winning in Stuttgart," she said about Sharapova. "I'm going out there with nothing to lose and that's always a good position to be in."
Second seed Sharapova received a walkover in the third round, as the unseeded Czech, Lucie Safarova, pulled out of the competition due to injury. Serena is 7-2 against Sharapova in the head-to-head combats and is deemed to be the hot favourite for winning the quarter-final.
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