Australian Open: Wozniacki in frame for return to No. 1
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 — 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 current longest streak between players returning to No. 1 is held by Serena Williams at 5 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’ current 23. 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 that wasn’t without late drama, both with closing out the match, and with her criticism of the chair umpire.
Wozniacki had to save four break points while serving for the match, but clinched it on her fourth match point.
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 in an oncourt television interview. “Nothing to lose. I got a second chance. I’m just going to try and take it and see how far I can go.”
Wozniacki wasn’t happy with chair umpire Renaud Lichtenstein. She had complained about a few line calls, and that the court was slippery in several areas.
“I’ve never had this guy before . . . but I think he did a poor job today,” Wozniacki said. “If the court is wet, I think it’s normal to ask for a towel. I don’t think someone needs to be rude, and I told him so. I think there were some questionable calls, as well.”
In other third-round action, Nick Kyrgios was in his element as the main attraction for a night. One of his favourite actors — Will Smith — was in the crowd making his Grand Slam debut as a spectator to watch Kyrgios beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5). The 17th seeded Kyrgios on the last five points after falling behind 5-2 in the tiebreaker.
The Kyrgios-Tsonga match pushed top-ranked Rafael Nadal onto the No. 2 court for his match against Damir Dzumhur. The change of scenery worked for Nadal, who lost last year’s final to Roger Federer. Nadal reached the fourth round in Australia for the 11th time with the 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 win. He will next play No. 24 Diego Schwartzman, who beat Aleksandr Dolgopov 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko didn’t make it through to the fourth round. She lost 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to 32nd-seeded Anett Kontaveit. The seventh-seeded Ostapenko’s loss left only two major champions in the women’s draw. Only one of them can reach the fourth round; Maria Sharapova meets Angelique Kerber to determine which one.
Fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina ended 15-year-old Marta Kostyuk’s run with a 6-2, 6-2 victory. Kostyuk was the youngest player to win main-draw matches at the Australian Open since Martina Hingis in 1996.
Madison Keys made it through to the fourth round after a 6-3, 6-4 win over Ana Bogdan. The 17th seeded Keys, who lost in the U.S. Open final last year, saved three break points serving for the match, finally clinching it on her first match point when Bogdan netted a backhand.