Wozniacki repels Williams fightback for her biggest win

Caroline Wozniacki feels nothing but pride as she heads into the offseason on the back of the biggest win of her career after the Dane staved off a furious Venus Williams comeback to claim the WTA Finals title for a first time yesterday.

Facing an opponent who enjoyed a 7-0 winning record against her, Wozniacki continued to display the form and variation she had all week in Singapore to emerge with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in her fifth appearance at the elite, eight-woman event.

“It feels great. Going into the tournament, you know that it’s going to be a tough one, regardless,” she said.

“I’m really proud of how I have played all week and how I have fought and how I really produced some great fighting out there,” added the 27-year-old.

“To be here with the trophy means a lot and it’s a great way to finish off the year.”

Wozniacki (pictured) had appeared to be cruising to victory at 6-4, 5-0 after barely an hour on court but needed to stay calm in the face of a fierce onslaught from her 37-year-old opponent, who simply refused to give up on her own shot at glory.

“I honestly think I served and I returned pretty well,” Wozniacki added when reviewing her performance. “I think I got a lot of her serves back, and obviously she has a big first serve, but at the same time I tried to keep pressure on her and tried to take a little bit of time away and stay a little bit closer to the baseline.

“She does great angles. When you play against her, she manages to put the ball very close to the line and with an angle you don’t really get from any other player, so it catches you a bit off guard and then she opens up the other side of the court.” Wozniacki will rise three places to third in the world rankings following her triumph but the Dane was just looking forward to a break before the new season starts. “I will not be touching a racket for the next four weeks,” she said. Meanwhile, Roger Federer battled past Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro 6-7(5) 6-4 6-3 for an eighth Swiss Indoors title in Basel yesterday.