World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki swept past Maria Sharapova more easily than expected, keeping her good form and taking advantage of the Russian’s 41 unforced errors to reach her second straight final at the BNP Paribas Open. The 16th-seeded Sharapova started the match by breaking Wozniacki’s serve, but from then on Sharapova couldn’t do much against the top seed, especially not with the overwhelming number of unforced errors outbalancing her 19 winners. Final score: 6-1 6-2.
I like this Sharapova’s quote about Wozniacki’s defensive style of play without winners: “I don’t think it really matters if you don’t miss. I mean, then why do you need to hit winners?” Haha, great! Thanks, Forty Deuce, for sharing Sharapova’s unique perspective.
Interestingly, Wozniacki has reached the title match of a $4.5 million tournament without hitting a single ace! This is Wozniacki’s second straight victory over Sharapova. At the 2010 US Open the Dane won 6-3 6-4.
In the other semifinal, seed No.15 Marion Bartoli powered past seed No.23 Yanina Wickmayer 6-1 6-3 to become the first French WTA player to reach the finals of the BNP Paribas Open. Also, the world No.17 has a chance to get back into the Top 10 if she wins the title.
Wozniacki leads Bartoli 4-2 in their career matches. Just a few weeks ago, in Doha, Wozniacki had an easy 6-1 6-1 victory over Bartoli.
A lot of people might still be apprehensive about I think Caro has proven that she is the number 1 player of the moment. I think the grand slam will come soon. Think Kim Clijsters. She got her first two years after she became number 1 but now nobody doubts her talent.
She deserves the top spot. Although, I’m still not a fan.
I’m not suprised to see this result.:( Nowdays it seems Maria is like a unforced-error maschine, but still this is a good result for her, I hope she can improve her game. As for Caroline, she’s maybe a sweet girl, bit I just don’t like her as tennis player at all.
Gush, Maria sure didn’t have to lose this way.:P But, anyway,this is a great result for her.And I like her quote. As for Caroline, she’ll beat Bartoli probably, but it will be quite annoying match to watch- Bartoli with her jumping around,practising shots before every single point(I mean, you do that on training,woman!)and that ridiculous serve, and Caroline with her all the time running around always in defense while opponent makes numerous mistakes,and thinking that is tennis.She is world number one now,and I must accept it, but her game for me is just not what tennis should be.For me, tennis is beautiful game (winners),and for Caroline, tennis is just winning matches (errors).And one more thing really annoys me- why does she have to call her father for couching on every single match?!It is so rude for me,when you have 5:1 or so lead and you stop the game for ”help”.
Yes, I am a Maria fan, but I am not upset she lost- I know Maria isn’t playing well at all and I don’t expect from her to beat Caroline in her top form. 😛 I know Caroline is working really hard and that’s why I don’t say she does not deserve her status, but I just can not enjoy her game when I see that it is pretty all about fitness, her backhand is a solid shot, but that forhand is just bad,and serve isn’t good either.She is a smart girl and I admire that,and she always has tactics,but,really,for 90 per cent of the players today the tactics is the same,they are brainless hardhitters who let themselves get into her trap.She wins because all the rest can’t figure out one thing- when playing against her they think that they have control because they have the power,but it’s reverse-she has the power because she has control.And Maria is among the rest of them,maybe even leading.I don’t like that Caro shows no intrest to improve,bring her game on higher level-I was so disappointed when she showed up in January with pretty same forhand and serve as in November,I thought she would bring more attention on that,but she kept things same.And about father-not a good thing knowing that on Grand slams you can not call couch to get on the court.
Marija, sorry for writing so much. 🙂
Go Caro! And please destroy Marion!
Could this be the passing of the era of the power game to the era of the defensive game?
Note Caro’s interview following her victory over Vika at IW.
Q. Kleybanova told me the other day that she thinks there are a lot of people on tour now, before they go on court against you because you’ve become so consistent, they already feel like they’ve lost because they know they have to play for hours and hours just to get the victory. Do you feel that at all? Are you aware of that?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Well, I know that if a player has to beat me, either she has to overpower me or she needs to stand there for hours and hours. That’s mostly what happens if a player has to beat me.
It’s a good feeling to have, because I feel that I’m in good shape. I can stand there for hours and I can take my chances. I also think I have developed my aggressive game…
Did Maria (and other players) fear Caroline’s game because of her superior return game, consistency and stamina? It’ll be interesting when Caro again goes up against the current top attacking players like Li Na, Petra and Kim (defensive and offensive). Already looking forward to Miami.
BTW: I don’t think Serena will return to singles competition, maybe do some dubs with Venus to satisfy some fans and continue her exit from competition.
To Caro fan:
Ana Ivanovic was not a slamless number one. In fact she became number one when Justine Henin retired, which was just around the time she won her first and only grand slam (RG 08).
Wozniacki is number one and deserves it. But she does not have it all. Her defensive skills are simply better than others’ offensive skills. She is the best in the world at what she does and that’s how she wins. Whether this will keep going is a question, as her no 1 spot is in the hands of others at the moment. If someone was to be able to hit offensively and consistently (like the Williams Sisters and the 04-08 Sharapova) Caroline wouldn’t have a chance.
Another thing to car fan:
Being a professional tennis player myself I can safely say that Caroline is not in control of how the point plays out in most of her matches. The defensive player never does. She has good tactics, everyone has to give her that, but slice and volleys aren’t as impressive as henin’s meaning that an aggressive player with slice, volleys, good serve etc. would have her.
As you can see from the statistics Maria made 41 unforced errors. Do you realise that Caroline needs 48 to win the match? This means that she only earned 7 points which were probably forced errors, not winners.
Maria hit 19 winners which are probably all her points.
I think this explains enough about who is in control and who not. There is a reason that an unforced error is called an Unforced error.
In regards to the final: rooting for Caroline! Might not like her game, but she’s smart and will win the tourney.
First thing;
I think caro is improving, @ dubai she really worked with her kick serve and hit a lot of winners. Her serve is getting much better, look @ old clips on youtube.
Second thing;
Like sharapova said after the match “Why go for winners when u dont miss”. Why should caro go for winners when she clearly has the ad. while playing defence? In the match against sharapova, starting 2 go for winner would perhaps give maria a chance to come back in the match.
Caro is working with here strengths, how is this a problem???
Maria lost. No question.
Go Marion!
Marion lost too.