Second seed Caroline Wozniacki’s quest for a maiden Grand Slam title continues as she booked her place in her 10th Grand Slam quarterfinal with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-0 victory over 19th seed Magdalena Rybarikova in the Rod Laver Arena in their fourth round clash at the Australian Open.
Wozniacki is playing scintillating tennis right now, since she recovered from a deficit in her second round match with Jana Fett, where she had to save two match points. The Dane is one of the favorites to win the title, and Li Na and Angelique Kerber in 2014 and 2016 respectively went on to win the Australian Open after saving match points in Melbourne.
Last year’s Wimbledon semifinalist Rybarikova got off to a flying start in this fourth round clash as she broke the former world number one’s serve to take a 2-1 lead. However, the second seed remained aggressive and patient as she immediately broke Slovakia’s number one serve back at the fifth time of asking.
The 19th seed was trying to make life difficult for Wozniacki by mixing up the play by throwing in drop shots and lobs but the world number two eventually settled into this match, and tracked down all of Rybarikova’s drop shots, and sliced backhands, which is more suited to grass courts, which is why she reached the last four at SW19 last year.
Wozniacki was in her groove, and she broke the Slovakian’s serve to love, and she consolidated the break with some aggression, finished off with a smash winner at the net to take a commanding 5-2 lead.
Rybarikova managed to hold onto her serve, and she was threatening the former world number one’s serve to break at 15-30, however, the improved serving from Wozniacki’s game, aided her in the opening set as she clinched the first set with a big serve down the middle,followed by a forehand winner down the line, taking it 6-3 in 36 minutes.
The alarm bells were ringing for Rybarikova, who was searching for her second Grand Slam quarterfinal in the last three Slams, as she was rapidly fading away as the former world number one broke her serve to love, and consolidated the break to love, 2-0.
The Slovakian was getting frustrated with her game, and she was starting to clinch her elbow which was bothering her in the latter stages of the match. Nonetheless, it was a clincial and ruthless performance from the second seed, who booked her place in the quarterfinals in Melbourne for just the third time in her career, and first time since 2011, 6-3, 6-0 in just one hour and three minutes.
Wozniacki is improving round by round and she will face former world number six Carla Suarez Navarro, who will also be contesting her third quarterfinal in Melbourne, after she defeated 32nd seed Anett Kontaveit, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6.
On-court interviewer Rennae Stubbs asked Wozniacki questions about her victory over Rybarikova, the tweener she played and her thoughts on her upcoming quarterfinal clash with the unseeded Spaniard.
“(laughs) Not quite but I was prepared for that, she’s a tricky opponent, she mixes up the pace, especially at the beginning, I didn’t expect the forehands down the line, good shots after that I calmed down a little bit, she was serving big, and I waited for the opportunity to attack.
Stubbs asked Wozniacki about her victory at the WTA Finals in Singapore at the end of October.
“Yeah it gave me a lot of confidence, I played some of my best tennis there, it’s a great feeling going into the off-season like that, playing really well, you can tell my confidence is high, I tried a tweener today and it actually went in (laughs), that’s the first time, I was pretty proud of that.
“Carla’s a great woman, I’ve played her so many times before, we’ve had marathons, we’ve had a little bit of everything, I’m excited it’s a quarterfinal, she’s an amazing player and person, so we’re going to have fun out there.”
