US Open 2010: A look at Caroline Wozniackis performance and achievements
All eyes have been on tennis pro Caroline Wozniacki since her professional debut in 2005 at the age of 15. The now 20-year-old Dane was, at the age of 15, a top-seed at the Australian Open. Although she lost the final to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, her performance in the tournament brought her into the public eye and registered her as a serious tennis player.
In her latest match on Monday, Wozniacki executed one of the most significant moments of her career so far. She was pitted against one time World Number 1, Maria Sharapova for the third round. Wozniacki upset Sharapova in a straight set match, beating the Russian 17th seed 6-3, 5-4. This victory is indicative of Wozniacki’s immense potential in the tennis world. In this year’s US Open, she has so far beaten unseeded Chelsey Gullickson of America, unseeded Kai-Chen Chang and Yung-Jan Chen, both from Taiwan. She is now slated to appear against Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, former World Junior number 3, in the quarter finals.
Wozniacki kick started this year with an exhibition tournament in Hong Kong. Although she lost the women’s singles; the Dane and Stefan Edberg teamed up to win two mixed doubles. She was fourth-seed at this year’s Australian open, but was knocked out in the opening round to Li Na of China. After this, she suffered two defeats at the hands of Jelena Jankovic at Indian Wells and Justine Henin at the Sony Ericsson Open.
After this, she defeated Olga Govortsova at her next tournament at Ponte Vedra Beach; however, soon after this success, she competed in the Family Circle Cup, where she encountered Vera Zvonareva. However, she was forced to give up the match 4-2 into the first set, when she suffered an ankle injury. It was reported as serious.
Wozniacki competed in tournaments throughout the clay season despite her injury; however she suffered many losses, due in part to her ankle. Regardless of her poor performance on clay, she remained third-seed at the French Open and proceeded to her best performance at Roland Garros so far, advancing to the fourth round without missing a single set. She lost to the eventual champion, Francesca Schiavone in the quarter finals.
The young Dane was seeded third at the Wimbledon Cup, where she proceeded to the quarter finals to be defeated by Petra Kvitova. Her second title of the year was the 2010 e-Boks Danish Open, which was hosted mostly due to Wozniacki’s immense fame in Denmark. She seeded second at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
The US Open is Caroline Wozniacki’s fourth Grand Slam tournament this year, and it is the third time that she is taking part in the US Open. Serena Williams dropping out of this year’s US Open due to foot injuries makes Wozniacki the top-seed at this tournament. If Wozniacki were to defeat her opposition into the finals and claim the US Open cup for herself, she would outdo Serena Williams on the rankings and take over her place as top-seed. In the event that she should win, Wozniacki would also have the most lucrative payday ever in women’s sports, taking home 2.7 million dollars as well as a one million dollar bonus for winning both the US Open and the US Open series.
Wozniacki’s competition in the final would be either Kim Clijsters, the defending champion or tennis star Venus Williams; the finalist will be determined in the upcoming Clijsters-Williams match. She has been defeated by Williams once before in the Memphis WTA Tier III in 2006. Wozniacki has yet to compete with Clijsters; if Williams is defeated and Wozniacki enters the finals with Clijsters, this would be their first match.
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