AFP/New York
Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki sent Maria Sharapova packing at the US Open yesterday, reaching the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 win over the five-time Grand Slam champion.
The defeat ends French Open winner Sharapova’s bid to claim a second major title in a single year for the first time in her career. Sharapova, who won the US Open in 2006, took a 5-2 record over the Dane into the fourth-round clash on a steamy Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
Three of those victories had come since Wozniacki last beat her in 2011. “It means so much to me,” said Wozniacki, the 2009 runner-up who reached the semi-finals in 2010 and 2011 but hadn’t been past the third round at Flushing Meadows the last two years.
“It’s been a bit up and down for me this season,” she said. “To win today against a champion like Maria is an unbelievable feeling.”
The match was played out in punishing humidity, with the players allowed a break in the locker room between the second and third sets. Wozniacki seized a 3-1 lead with a break in the fourth game, and broke Sharapova again to seal it after two and a half hours.
Wozniacki will face 13th-seeded Italian Sara Errani for a place in the semi-finals.
Earlier Errani’s softly-softly approach paid off as she booked her quarter-final berth with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-0 victory over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
The 13th seeded Italian was the first woman into the last eight, where she will meet Caroline Wozniacki.
Lucic-Baroni, a 32-year-old qualifier ranked 121 in the world, accounted for the third-round exit of world number two Simona Halep. But the Croatian, a teen sensation in the 1990s whose career was derailed by the trauma of an abusive father, financial troubles and injury, couldn’t find a way past the metronomic Errani.
The Italian played it safe on a windy Arthur Ashe Stadium court, coming up with just four outright winners to the 46 of Lucic-Baroni—but also committing only nine unforced errors to the 69 of her opponent.
In the first set, Errani put 100 percent of her first serves in play. Asked how she managed that on such a windy day, Errani said she couldn’t afford not to.
“I serve slowly, so I have to put mine in,” she said.
Errani reached the French Open final in 2012, a career-best year that saw her win four singles titles and crack the top 10 in the world rankings. She reached the summit of the doubles rankings that year as she claimed eight titles with Roberta Vinci, including the US Open doubles crown.
She and Vinci completed a career doubles Grand Slam at Wimbledon this year, but Errani will be free to focus on her singles campaign this week—she and Vinci were eliminated in doubles in the second round in New York.
Meanwhile, Frenchman Gilles Simon delivered the first big surprise in the men’s draw at the U.S. Open, taking down fourth seed David Ferrer of Spain 6-3 3-6 6-1 6-3 to move into the fourth round.
With the loss Ferrer earned the dubious distinction of becoming the first top 10 men’s seed to be shown the exit while Simon moves on to face either big serving Croatian Marin Cilic who beat South African Kevin Anderson 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4
A well-rested Ferrer, who reached the third round in a walkover after Australian Bernard Tomic withdrew with a hip injury, got off to a sluggish start but fought back to take the second.
But by the end of the nearly three-hour clash a distressed Ferrer was hunched over the courtside timing board between points dripping in sweat with the 26th seeded Simon finishing off the exhausted Spaniard on his third match point.
“David is always fighting until the end,” said Simon, after earning just his second win in seven meetings with Ferrer. “We were 5-1 he destroyed me five times. I just stayed relax today and had nothing to lose.
“I had a good start and then you know how it is.”
Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark celebrates a point against Maria Sharpova of Russia during their US Open match in New York yesterday..
