Wozniacki Rolls Into Madrid Open Quarterfinals

May 6, 2015 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Wozniacki_Crop_02
Photo credit: Calvin Rhoden

Caroline Wozniacki cruised into the Mutua Madrid Open quarterfinals on Wednesday, getting past ninth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 6-2.

The fifth-seeded Dane was extremely sharp from the opening serve. In a match that wasn’t dominated by the serve, Wozniacki won 57 percent of the points on Radwanska’s serve, leading to 13 break point opportunities, of which she converted six.

The win puts Wozniacki into the final eight where she will take on third-seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova.

The Russian got a strong test from France’s Caroline Garcia, but was able to outlast Garcia 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

Garcia actually took a 3-1 advantage in the deciding set and looked to be on her way to an upset, but Sharapova wouldn’t yield, and stormed back to capture the final set and advance.

“I think really in the third it just came down to a few points. I think she was the more aggressive player in the third set—she was going for a lot,” said Sharapova. “Of course I could have had a higher percentage of first serves. Even on some good second serves she stepped in and hit some really good shots and there was just not much I could do. I think the percentage from her dropped a bit at the end. She started making a few more errors.”

And those errors were all Sharapova needed to work herself back into the third set and close out the victory.

In what was probably the top match of the day, world number one Serena Williams tangled with former world number one Victoria Azarenka.

Serena was able to extend her winning streak to 26 consecutive matches, but it wasn’t easy. Serena won just one more point than Azarenka, 113 to 112, and won both of her sets in tie-breakers to pull out the 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(1) victory.

Azarenka had her chances, leading 5-1 in the opening set tiebreaker and having triple match point while serving up 6-5 in the third set.

Ultimately, though, she was just unable to close out Serena in either frame.

“I think overall it was a great match,” said Azarenka. “I think the one negative part I can take about today is result—overall I felt like I played a pretty high level, I was there on every point. It just didn’t go my way in the end, but overall I should take more positives out of today.”

In the quarterfinals, Serena will play 10th-seed Carla Suarez-Navarro, whom she defeated in the Miami Open final back in March.

The Spaniard was able to edge seventh-seeded Serb Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 on Wednesday to push through.

Fourth-seeded Czech Petra Kvtiova rolled past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.

“I’m glad that I played better than yesterday for sure,” said Kvitova. “I played a little bit more aggressive than yesterday, and that’s what I think was important, because if I didn’t I think she would have smashed me. I’m glad that I did everything well. Especially that I served well. The last game was really important, and I made it from 0-40. I’m happy for that for sure. I didn’t expect that I was going to play three, four matches here before the tournament, so I’m really glad to still be in.”

In the quarters, Kvitova will play Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu, who ousted Czech Barbora Strycova 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday.

The other winner on Wednesday was 13th seed Lucie Safarova. The Czech got past Italy’s Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-0 to reach the final eight. She awaits the winner of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Samantha Stosur.


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Centercourt
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