Czech mate as battler ousts Wozniacki
FOUR times, 2014 US Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki was one point from winning. Four times, her opponent in the second round this year, 149th-ranked Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic, came up with a winner to extend the match.
The fourth-seeded Wozniacki failed to convert any of those chances to close it out and lost 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-1) to Cetkovska, who had not won a tour-level main-draw match all season until playing at Flushing Meadows this week.
“I can only blame myself,” Wozniacki said. “You always think back: I should have done this, I should have done that.”
She held one match point while ahead 5-4 in the third set, then three more at 6-5 – each time with Cetkovska serving.
“I said, ‘It’s now or never’,” Cetkovska said, “so I just went for it.”
It was a back-and-forth match that began under the lights and seesawed wildly for just over three hours. The women combined for 12 breaks of serve.
“I let her play well,” said Wozniacki, who has made it all the way to the final at the US Open twice, losing to Serena Williams last year and to Kim Clijsters in 2009.
Wozniacki’s exit means only three of the top 10 seeded women are left after two rounds: No.1 Williams, No.2 Simona Halep, and No.5 Petra Kvitova. This was Wozniacki’s third second-round loss at a major this season.