Caroline Wozniacki has shrugged off her surprised loss at the US Open by focusing on the positives of her 2018 season so far.
The two-time US Open finalist crashed out 6-4, 6-2, to Lesia Tsurenko in the second round on Thursday. Losing at the same stage of the tournament for the second consecutive year. Against Tsurenko, Wozniacki lacked rhythm and consistency with an erratic performance that featured 35 unforced errors to only six winners.
“I think I started off pretty well, then I think I played well in parts of the first set, just trying to stay aggressive.” Wozniacki said about her performance.
“But she was playing smarter than me. She played the game that I was supposed to be playing. She got a lot of balls back. She played with the angles. She waited for the short ball. When the short ball came, she played aggressive. She went back and kept the ball in play when she had to.”
During the second set, Tsurenko had a medical time out to have a treatment on her right arm. Despite the setback, Wozniacki was unable to capitalize on her chance as she failed to get a single break point opportunity during that set. Unlike her Ukrainian rival, who broke two consecutive times on route to victory.
“When I went on court and I made few serves full power, I felt the sharp pain. I was so tight that I made double-faults.” Tsurenko said about her issue. “After that I just decided I will not go for flat serves any more. I was just doing slice serve, not trying to serve my best, just to put the ball in and to start the point.”
“For now, it worked, but I think I will have a lot of treatment on it and hopefully I will make some flat and maybe some aces next match.” She added.
Since Wimbledon, Wozniacki has experienced a roller coaster journey on the tour. A leg injury forced her out of the Citi Open in Washington. Following on from that, she lost in the opening round of the Rogers Cup before retiring from the Western and Southern Open with a knee problem. Despite the issues, the Dane has insisted that she was in good form heading into the final grand slam of the year had gone well.
“I felt like I’d been practicing really well, playing really well for the week leading up to the tournament. Obviously it wasn’t an ideal preparation.” She admitted.
“But I felt like I did everything right under the circumstances. I just came out here today and I did my best, and it just wasn’t good enough.”
Wozniacki’s win-loss record for the season now stands at 32-13. Although she has now failed to win back-to-back matches at four consecutive tournaments. Despite the expectation of her to regain form during the Asian swing of the tour, the 28-year-old has confidently evaluated her season as ‘great’ following her Australian Open breakthrough earlier this year.
“I’m always going to say it’s a great season because I won my first major. I’ve won so many tournaments throughout my career, but I’d never won a Grand Slam.” Said Wozniacki.
“I think regardless what happens for the last few tournaments of the year, it’s still going to be a great year because I won in Australia.”
After two rounds played at the US Open, three top 10 seeds have exit the tournament. Besides Wozniacki, Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza have also crashed out.