Caroline Wozniacki defeats Shahar Pe'er at China Open
World Number 1 Caroline Wozniacki put an end to the winning streak of Shahar Pe’er at the 2010 China Open in Beijing at the WTA tour event’s semi-final. Wozniacki managed to defeat the 23-year-old player 7-5 and 6-2 in an easy win.
Despite this defeat, Shahar Pe’er will still be bumped up five places from World Number 18 to a career high ranking of World Number 13 (her previous best was World Number 14) on the Women’s Tennis Association charts. This is the first time in her career
that the Israeli player has managed to amass over a million dollars in prize money in a year, and the first time in three months that she has made it to the semi-final of an event.
First seed Wozniacki, who received a bye in the first round, has defeated players such as Sara Errani, Petra Kvitova and Ana Ivanovic before this success. Pe’er, meanwhile, has faced off against opponents such as local Shengnan Sun, Bojana Jovanovski, Patty
Schnyder and Timea Bacsinszky to reach the semi-finals.
Despite a considerable fight against Caroline Wozniacki, Pe’er lost to her opponent in two sets. She began the match as the stronger player on court, managing to break the Dane in the first game. However, Wozniacki rallied quickly with four straight games
to collect a 5-2 lead. Pe’er then saved six set points, moving to equal the score at 5-5. Wozniacki then fought back and took advantage of the seventh set point, to clinch the first set 7-5. From this point onwards, Wozniacki dominated the game with her conversion
of 6 out of 11 break points and her fast play. Although Pe’er took two games from the second set, Wozniacki managed to shatter her with six consecutive games after that.
Despite her loss, Pe’er was positive when she said, “I was obviously disappointed after the match, but I told myself that I must take the good things out of it. I played well overall and I’m happy I’ve improved my best ranking.” When asked what she felt
she need to correct about her tennis techniques, she said, “I need to be more aggressive and improve my serve, which wasn’t good all week. But overall I’m playing well and I’m progressing in the right direction.”
In her upcoming match, Wozniacki’s opponent is 2010 Wimbledon Championship and US Open finalist, Vera Zvonareva. Zvonareva herself defeated local tennis pro Na Li, despite rousing support for the home champion, without losing focus. She converted six out
of eight break chances to win the match 6-3, 6-3. The World Number 3 player said, “I was just trying to do my best on the court and not think about anything else. I knew I just had to hang in there and counter-punch when I could. Get every single ball and
fight for every point, and I think I did that.”
The 20-year-old Wozniacki was excited after her 1 hour, 19 minutes long victory. She said, “I feel good out there on court and hopefully tomorrow I can play a good match against Vera,” said Wozniacki, who wrapped up the match in 1 hour and 19 minutes. “She’s
in really good shape, so it’s not going to be easy. I’m just thinking about trying to be 100 percent fit for tomorrow.” She has been having some problems with her knee, which she hurt during her quarter-final success against Ivanovic. However, Wozniacki seems
to have braved through it when she said, “It felt better today than yesterday. It’s not getting worse, so that’s a positive.”
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