Wozniacki and Stephens Reach Aegon Final Eight

June 24, 2015 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal

Caroline Wozniacki came back from a set down to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova on Wednesday, beating the Russian 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the Aegon International quarterfinals.

The Dane built a 5-1 advantage in the first set and seemed to be on her way to a comfortable victory. But Kuznetsova recovered, and came all the way back to take the opening set in a tiebreaker.

Kuznetsova’s momentum was short-lived, however, as Wozniacki quickly regained her form. After taking the second set, she built a 5-1 advantage in the third, and this time did not squander it.

“I was up 5-1 in that first set, so when I was 5-1 up in the third set I was thinking to myself that I really couldn’t repeat what happened earlier,” said Wozniacki. “I served better as the match went on, tried to take the ball a little earlier.”

That change in strategy proved to be the difference. Wozniacki will play 10th seed German Andrea Petkovic in the final eight.

Petkovic ousted American Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-4.

American Sloane Stephens continued her excellent play in Eastbourne as she followed up her top 10 win over Carla Suarez-Navarro on Tuesday by downing Great Britain’s own Heather Watson 6-2, 6-3.

Stephens converted on five of her eight break point chances and won 73 percent of her first serve points to cruise past Watson.

Up next for Stephens is top-seed Daria Gavrilova. The Russian hung on to beat 13th seed Sara Errani 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 on Wednesday.

Ninth-seed Agnieszka Radwanska put together an impressive performance in her third-round match Wednesday as she rolled past eighth-seed Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-1 in less than an hour.

The Pole will take on Tsvetana Pironkova, who came back from a set down to upend Dominika Cibulkova 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-1.

In the other quarterfinal, Britain’s Johanna Konta will continue her run in her home country against Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic.

Konta beat 14th seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 while Bencic lead 6-4, 3-0 over seventh-seed Eugenie Bouchard before the Canadian retired with a leg injury.

“I don’t know at this point but I was feeling it during the match,” said Bouchard. “It just wasn’t smart for me to take a risk and, you know, potentially be out for a long time. It’s something I want to take care of right away.”

When asked about her status for next week’s Wimbledon, Bouchard was adamant that she will be playing.

“I’m going to play no matter what, even if I’m on one leg,” she said. “I will take a few days off from serving and give it a little break and see how it goes.”


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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