Top seed Caroline Wozniacki staggers into Aussie semi-finals
Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki fought off French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in a challenging showdown to win her Australian Open quarterfinal 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. While the final score line seems to indicate Wozniacki’s dominance in the latter
half of the match, fans who missed the showing may be surprised to learn that the Women’s Tennis Association World Number 1 was in dire need of medication in order to survive the match against her Italian opponent.
In fact, Wozniacki required painkillers in order to continue during her match with Schiavone. Spectators were surprised by this, especially since Schiavone seemed to be in great form. Despite the fact that the Italian tennis pro had fought off Svetlana Kuznetsova
in a match which lasted almost five hours in the last round, 30 year old Schiavone did not show any signs of weakness or pain in the match.
The situation was actually quite the opposite. The Australian Open crowd saw Wozniacki facing immense trouble with her leg earlier today; she was forced to call for a time out during the first set, in which she had to have her left thigh strapped.
Wozniacki explained her position during the match, saying, “I don't know if it's the hip flexor. It's on the side of the leg anyway. I felt it when I was serving and I fell down on my leg. I wanted to tape it up because I've had something similar before,
so I knew that if I tape it up it will be okay. First the tape was too restricting and too tight. I got some painkillers that helped me and after 15, 20 minutes I didn't feel it. So then it was okay."
Meanwhile, Schiavone raced ahead to snatch the first set from Wozniacki. She then immediately took a 3-1 lead with a service break in the second set, and gave her Danish opponent a run for her money to bring the match back to an equal ground.
Fortunes turned for the player from then onwards though, as she won the next 5 consecutive games to take the set 6-3. That seemed to have given Wozniacki the confidence and she carried that momentum in the deciding set. Although she faced sheer resilience
in the form of Schiavone, who did seem a bit tired towards the end - coming off that epic 4th round match against Kuznetsova - the Dane eventually got the better of her Italian foe and took the final set 6-3.
The World Number 1 was forced to fight for her success, and it took her four match points to take away the third set and secure a spot for herself in the next round of the Australian Open. When asked about her battle against Schiavone, Caroline “Sunshine”
Wozniacki said, “It was very difficult. Francesca was playing well.. When I went to the third set, I was really pumped and ready to go out there and fight until the last ball.”
Now, in the next round of the Melbourne Grand Slam, Wozniacki will be competing against Chinese tennis pro Li Na. 2011 will mark the second straight year in which Na has managed to reach the semi-finals of the Aussie Open. This year, she defeated German
player Andrea Petkovic in a 6-2, 6-4 match to proceed in the tournament; Petkovic has predicted a Grand Slam win for her defeater this January. Meanwhile, Schiavone has cast in a vote for US Open champion Kim Clijsters. However, before Clijsters can prove
herself in the title match, she must make it past Polish player Agnieszka Radwanska in a quarter-final match.
The last slot for a semi-final will be determined by the quarter-final held between World Number 2 Vera Zvonareva and Czech pro Petra Kvitova.
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