Dubai: Caroline Wozniacki took just 75 minutes to defeat 16th seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1 6-3 in the final of the Dubai championships yesterday. Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark (L) poses with her trophy next to Jordan’s Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, wife of Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum, after beating Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in their WTA Dubai Open final match yesterday
The top-seeded Dane had never advanced beyond the third round of the tournament before, but she swept through the draw without the loss of a set to win her 13th career title.
By defeating Shahar Peer in the quarter-finals she re-captured the top ranking she had surrendered to Kim Clijsters just the week before and she is expected to hold on to that ranking for at least the next four weeks.
"I felt really good out there today,” Wozniacki told reporters. "I felt like I was hitting the ball well, clean, and I could really stay aggressive today. I knew I had to because if Svetlana is allowed to stay and dictate, she’s just too strong.”
There were far too many errors from Kuznetsova to make the match anything other than mediocre. She failed to reproduce the kind of performance earlier in the week that suggested she was capable of returning towards the top of the rankings.
Wozniacki had little to do but keep the ball in play as Kuznetsova often missed by a wide margin.