US Open day 10 - Caroline Wozniacki in quarter-final action
Caroline Wozniacki has been playing every bit like the US Open top seed in her opening four matches, and now takes on the unseeded Dominika Cibulkova in the quarter-finals.
Seeking to book a semi-final date with one of those two are seventh seed Vera Zvonareva and 31st seed Kaia Kanepi, who have both packed their Wimbledon form with them as they made the trip to New York.
Caroline Wozniacki vs Dominika Cibulkova
After defeating former US open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in her fourth-round match, Cibulkova now faces the most in-form player in women’s tennis in the quarter-finals.
Wozniacki arrived at Flushing Meadows having won titles in three of her last four tournaments, and has reached this stage courtesy of a straight sets victory over 2006 US Open champion Maria Sharapova. The Russian committed 36 unforced errors in their fourth round match trying to find a way through Wozniacki’s defences, as the world No. 2’s deep groundstrokes and percentage game did the damage.
The world No. 2 has already defeated Cibulkova twice this season, in Dubai and at New Haven in the last tournament before the US Open, to move to a 4-1 career win-loss record against the Slovakian.
“She's [Wozniacki’s] really consistent,” Cibulkova said on Monday as she awaited confirmation of her quarter-final opponent. “She can keep the level that she's playing the whole match. You know, I was playing against her the last match I was 4-2 up and I was playing, you know, great. But then I was just not able to keep this level. This [is] gonna be my goal if I gonna play against her.”
It’s that consistency which led Wozniacki’s third round opponent, Yung-Jan Chan, to liken playing the Dane to hitting against a wall, with everything just coming back. Chan went on to take one game from the 20-year-old for their entire match.
Cibulkova managed a total of five against Wozniacki in New Haven (where she lost 4-6, 1-6), and with the top seed showing no signs of slowing down despite her packed tournament schedule, she’ll be doing well to match that at the US Open.
Prediction: Another straight sets win for Wozniacki looms as the likely result
Vera Zvonareva vs Kaia Kanepi
Kanepi’s run from the first round of qualifying, past French Open runner-up Sam Stosur and into the quarter-finals at Wimbledon this year was one of the more impressive performances of the tournament.
And just to prove that was no fluke, the Estonian has backed it up at the US Open, where she defeated fourth seeded Jelena Jankovic in the third round and 15th seed Yanina Wickmayer in the fourth round to find herself in the final eight at a Grand Slam for the third time in her career.
She now takes on Wimbledon runner-up Zvonareva, who is yet to drop a set this tournament as she seeks to go one better at the year’s final major.
Given the impressive scalps Kanepi has claimed in her last two matches, the volatile Russian – whose emotions can at times get the better of her on court, with tears and smashed racquets two of the notable consequences – shouldn’t strike any undue fear into the world No. 32.
Zvonareva has proved though, that when she does have the mental side of her game under control, she’s able to cause her fair share of damage with her powerful, flat groundstrokes and speed around the court.
Prediction: If there’s going to be a quarter-final upset in the women’s draw, this might just be it.
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