There was a lot of talk about fashion at the 2010 US Open, especially about the very short Stella McCartney dress Caroline Wozniacki was wearing and Venus Williams’ too movable outfits. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour dedicated one photo feature to Tracy Austin, that I recently had an interview with, and I came across this very interesting photo showing that exposed shorts are nothing new. I simply had to share the picture of the outfit, because it's so unique and strange. Imagine Wozniacki wearing it today. The photo dates back to the Eastbourne tournament in 1978.

The gallery also featured a photo we could add to our collection of young pictures of women’s tennis players. You can see a 14-year-old Austin playing Chris Evert in the round of 32 at Wimbledon in 1977.

Top seed and last year’s runner-up Caroline Wozniacki was confidently progressing at the US Open, losing just 17 games en route to the semifinals, but her first Top 10 opponent at the tournament, seventh seed Vera Zvonareva, defeated her 6-4 6-3 and ended her 13-match winning streak.

The loss may have cost Wozniacki the number one ranking, a million-dollar US Open series bonus and of course a first Grand Slam title.

And that’s not all, Wozniacki will probably have to deal with proving herself again. It’s true that she displayed stunning form in her first five matches, but all the opponents were unseeded except for Maria Sharapova, who is not in her prime time.

"Most things were going in. I had chances, and I don't know, I made some mistakes today that I usually don't do," said the 20-year-old Wozniacki, who significantly increased her number of unforced errors, to 31, compared to previous matches.

"Yeah, it was a tough day for me in the office."

Zvonareva has reached the title match of a second straight Grand Slam, having played the Wimbledon final against Serena Williams. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Neither Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova nor the windy conditions at Flushing Meadows could stop top seed Caroline Wozniacki, and the Dane is well on her way to her first Grand Slam title.

Last year’s runner-up Wozniacki defeated unseeded first-time US Open quarterfinalist Cibulkova 6-2 7-5 in the match that "felt like playing in a hurricane", as Wozniacki later said, and in which it was an achievement simply to keep the ball in play.

Wozniacki made only 18 unforced errors, compared to Cibulkova’s 43. The quarterfinal between Vera Zvonareva and Kaia Kanepi that took place earlier featured as much as 88 unforced errors.

Wozniacki is now on a 13-match winning streak, having won Monteral and New Haven prior to coming to the US Open. In the Montreal final she defeated Vera Zvonareva, her next opponent at the US Open. (source: BBC, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Dominika Cibulkova reached her second US Open quarterfinal in two years by upsetting eleventh seed and 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round. Later, top seed Caroline Wozniacki recorded one of the most significant victories of her career by defeating Maria Sharapova for the first time and by building on the momentum gained in the previous three rounds of the US Open in which the Dane lost a total of just three games. The two winners will face each other in the quarterfinals.

Despite a fragile thigh and being down in both sets, the world No.45 Cibulkova defeated Kuznetsova in straight sets, 7-5 7-6(4). The Slovakian could have finished the match earlier, as she served for the second set at 5-3, but Kuznetsova saved two match points and the set went to a tiebreak. The Slovakian didn’t let her opportunity slip away and won that tiebreak to deny Kuznetsova her 101th Grand Slam victory. During the match Kuznetsova made 42 unforced errors and double-faulted 10 times.

Here’s what Cibulkova said afterwards:

I was really pumped for this. I knew I could make it and that I could beat everybody in this tournament. I still feel like that.

The fourth round match between last year’s US Open runner-up Wozniacki and 2006 US Open champion Sharapova was highly anticipated, partly because it was a big test for Wozniacki’s great form but also a big test for more established Sharapova, and the two didn’t disappoint, providing tennis fans with big-hitting contest.

Both Wozniacki and Sharapova had very low break point conversion percentages – Wozniacki just 25% (converting 3 of 12 break points), and Sharapova just 11% (making use of only 1 out of 9 break points). Sharapova also had much more double faults and unforced errors than Wozniacki – nine double faults to Wozniacki’s three, and 36 unforced errors to Wozniacki’s 10. Final match result: 6-3 6-4.

Wozniacki has won the last four meetings against her next opponent Cibulkova, dating back to 2008, and all of them were on hard courts. The Dane is now more than ever a serious contender for a Grand Slam title, and if the repeat of the last year’s final with Kim Clijsters materializes, Wozniacki will be much more likely to go all the way. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki has lost a total of just three games to advance to the fourth round of the US Open. In the first round the last year’s runner-up defeated Chelsey Gullickson 6-1 6-1, then in the second round she double-bageled Kai-Chen Chang in 47 minutes, and today she defeated Yung-Jan Chan 6-1 6-0.

Wozniacki’s opponent in the fourth round will be former champion Maria Sharapova who didn’t let American hope Beatrice Capra win a single game and advanced with a 6-0 6-0 victory. However, the match lasted more than an hour, 73 minutes. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)