Caroline Wozniacki’s bid to reach her first Sydney International semifinal has ended in a bitter defeat after she was edged out 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-4 by Barbora Strycova in a marathon encounter.
The match was dominated by the sweltering conditions in Sydney, with the temperature soaring to a high of 41 degrees Celsius. As well as the unforgiving weather, Wozniacki also had to contend with a resilient Strycova. The roller coaster match consisted of 16 break of service, nine for Wozniacki and seven the Strycova. Inevitably, it was Wozniacki’s service that proved fatal of her winning chances. Winning just four points in her final three service games, the former world No.1 went out after three hours and 19 minutes of play.
“It was brutal out there … but you just try and think like you’re on a beach drinking pina coladas,” Wozniacki said. “That’s basically your train of thought. You know that it’s the same for both players, so I was just trying to mentally just try and keep cool. But it was really, really hot out there.”
Wozniacki was in control during parts of the match. In the second set, she recovered from a 0-5 deficit to clinch the tiebreaker. Then in the decider she edged out to a 3-1 lead before suffering a five-game losing streak. The loss is the eighth time that Wozniacki has failed to progress beyond the quarter-final stages at the event. Despite the latest woe, it did little to hinder Wozniacki’s sense of humour.
“On the positive side of things, I can eat whatever I want now because I have burned a lot of calories today. I’ll definitely have an ice cream, for sure,” Wozniacki joked.
Johanna Konta endured better fortunes in her match against 19-year-old Daria Kasatkina. The British sixth seed refused to let the heat get to her head as she tamed her younger rival. Clinching the first set in just under 40 minutes, Konta battled from 2-4 behind in the second to progress to the last four.
“She has real talent… yesterday she beat the No.1 player in the world. She did an incredible job,” Konta said of Kasatkina.
Awaiting the Brit in the semifinals will be Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, who breezed her way past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-3. During the clinical performance Bouchard won 84% of her service points and broke her opponent three times to reach her first WTA Semi-final since last February.
“I feel more and more confident every day,” Bouchard told the Ken Rosewall Arena crowd.
“I’m feel like I’m getting back into the rhythm of things a little bit, but it’s a long road so I’m just trying to do my best every day.”
The upcoming clash will be the second meeting between the two players. Their first meeting saw Bouchard overcome Konta in three sets at last year’s Wimbledon Championships.
