Although her father-coach Piotr believes it will be hard for Caroline Wozniacki to live up to being the top seed at the US Open, the 20-year-old tennis star has certainly looked the part of late.
Over the weekend she won her second straight title on the hard courts, taking her third consecutive Pilot Pen tournament trophy with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Nadia Petrova in the final at New Haven, Connecticut.
It was the second tough match in a row for the young Dane, who edged out Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals. Down 3-5 in the final set against the Russian, Wozniacki broke back to take the set to a tiebreaker, which she won 7-5.
Wozniacki now has four WTA titles this year, and the win at New Haven followed her victory in the Rogers Cup tournament in Montreal last week. And with Serena Williams out of the US Open with an injury, world number two Wozniacki is the top seed for the Grand Slam tournament.
Piotr Wozniacki said last week that his daughter has a good shot of winning the tournament, but admitted she’s still the underdog despite her seeding. The bookies tend to agree, with her odds only shortening slightly following the win, from 9/1 to 8/1 (best price, oddschecker.com).
Caroline herself feels she’s in top form. ‘It’s naturally my dream to win a Grand Slam event,’ she told Sporten.dk. ‘But there’s still seven wins to go, and all the other players want to win it, too. It’s about playing well at the right times – and also having a bit of luck.’
But Wozniacki has never beaten the three seeds directly behind her. She is 0-4 versus Venus Williams, 0-4 against Jelena Jankovic, and 0-1 versus bookies favourite Kim Clijsters, who defeated the Dane in the final last year.
Another player tipped to do well, the second favourite Maria Sharapova, also has a conclusive head-to-head record, thanks to wins in both their previous meetings.
The Copenhagen Post
