Competitive family spirit helps Wozniacki survive scare in Melbourne
Caroline Wozniacki credited her competitive family for the fighting spirit that helped her recover from a seemingly impossible position against Jana Fett in the second round of the Australian Open yesterday.
The second seed looked certain to be making a premature exit when she trailed little-known Croatian Fett 1-5, 15-40 in the deciding set only to save the two match points and reel off six games in a row.
After completing her 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory, Wozniacki said she used Fett’s inexperience – the 21-year-old is ranked 119 and had never won a grand slam match prior to this tournament – to give herself belief.
“At 5-1, 40-15, I felt like I was one foot out of the tournament,” the Dane said. “She served a great serve down the ‘T’. It was just slightly out. I was kind of lucky.
“Then I felt her tighten up just slightly. I thought to myself, ‘Make her win it, don’t give it to her’. When I managed to get it to 5-2, I said, ‘Okay, I’m still alive. She still has four more balls to win’.
“She’s about to beat the No 2 player in the world. Obviously she’s about 100 in the world. That’s a big moment for her. I know how it feels whenever you’re close to reaching something really big. I’m very proud of the way I came back.”
Wozniacki hails from a very sporting family – her mother, Anna, played volleyball for Poland and her father, Piotr, was a professional footballer. But it was growing up competing against her brother, Patrik, who is also a footballer, that drove Wozniacki’s will to win.
“If you lose a game to anyone in my family, you’re going to hear about it for at least a week,” she said. “That definitely helped me.”
In the men’s draw, No 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov survived a scare to beat American qualifier Mackenzie McDonald 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6, 8-6 to reach the third round.
“It’s a tough day,” the Bulgarian said. “I just had to play with what I had today. I’m the most happy with that, winning on days when you’re not supposed to.”
World No 1 Rafael Nadal also reach the third round, defeating Leonardo Mayer 6-3, 6-4, 7-6.