Pliskova bounced out by Wozniacki
Great Dane not fazed by rain
Caroline Wozniacki TORONTO is not only winning in Toronto for the first time in her career, she’s doing it against the world’s best.
The 27-year-old from Denmark outlasted topranked Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-4 in a raindelayed marathon quarterfinal on Friday at the Rogers Cup.
The match ended just over five hours after the players took to the court in the early afternoon for the pre-game warmup. The start was delayed for more than two hours and three more weather interruptions followed in the first set alone.
The on-court match time was two hours 56 minutes, but it felt much longer.
“I just kept fighting and just kept doing my thing,” Wozniacki said.
In the deciding set, Wozniacki broke at love to pull even at 4-4. She then held serve and followed with another break to lock up a spot in the final four.
Next up will be a Saturday showdown with American Sloane Stephens, who topped Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 before the rain returned in the evening. Fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine was scheduled to take on fourth-seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza. The defending champ, secondseed Simona Halep of Romania, was to play Caroline Garcia of France in the other quarter-final. Both matches were postponed to Saturday by rain.
Pliskova, a towering sixfoot-one 25-year-old from the Czech Republic, was playing her first tournament as world No. 1.
“She just put everything back,” Pliskova said.
Wozniacki had lost her opening matches in all four previous appearances in Toronto. Montreal hosts the women’s Rogers Cup in alternate years and she has fared better there, winning in 2010 and reaching the semifinals in 2012.