Wozniacki ‘playing with house money’

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA Caroline Wozniacki had just been beaten by Kim Clijsters in the 2012 Australian Open quarter-finals, causing her to lose her No. 1 ranking on the WTA Tour, and she had some fighting words.

“I will get it back eventually, so I’m not worried,” she said.

“The media talks to me like I’m finished ... the fact is I still have quite a few good years in front of me.”

Fast forward to this year’s Australian Open, where Wozniacki’s win in the third round on Friday leaves her with a chance to regain the No. 1 ranking in the world — six years later.

If so, it would be the longest gap between stints at the top since the WTA’s computer rankings were introduced in 1975. She might take some solace from the fact that the longest streak between players returning to No. 1 is held by Serena Williams at five years, 29 days.

The 27-year-old Wozniacki also faced criticism during her first stay at No. 1 — which included year-end top rankings in 2010 and 2011 — that she’d never won a major, unlike Williams, who has won 23 of them. And that hasn’t changed either.

Maybe this year.

On Friday, two days after she came back from a 5-1 deficit and saved two match points in the third set to beat Jana Fett in the second round, she had a 6-4, 6-3 win over Kiki Bertens.

After coming so close to being knocked out of the tournament, she sounded like a gambler with cash in her pocket.

“Right now, playing with house money,” Wozniacki said.

“Nothing to lose. I got a second chance. I’m just going to try and take it and see how far I can go.”

In second-round women’s doubles play, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and China’s Yifan Xu posted a 6-4, 6-4 win over Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova and Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia.