With an ease of victory in the quarterfinals, Caroline Wozniacki taught her young opponent a lesson of consistency at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Thursday night. The world number 15 kept her run to the semis in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 over Catherine Bellis on Centre Court at the Dubai Tennis Stadium. The American committed 33 unforced errors and not enough winners to stay competitive against the former number one.
This was the first time between the two stars and for the former number one and world number 15, she had to be careful against the 17-year-old American. Bellis handled fourth seeded Agnieszka Radwanska who went the full distance only to be stunned in the end in a 6-2 showing in the third set. With the quarterfinals becoming an important point for the two, it would be the experience of the Dane going against the youngster who has experience on the hard courts and nothing to lose.
She watched as the Dane gave her fast win on serve scoring on four consecutive winners to start the set. Bellis didn’t have the power to match it but did make it difficult for Wozniacki to win the break. She pulled off a trick shot on the game point that had her on the board and on serve. A 26-shot rally came in the third game with Bellis gaining the lead and then won the break.
Showing no nerves whatsoever, the 17-year-old gave her all on serve in the fourth where she defended the score, moved the ball away from Wozniacki to have the lead for herself at 3-1. Wozniacki didn’t worry about anything in the fifth as she produced a well-rounded victory to sit a game down of the teen. A chance for the break arrived as an unforced error opened the door for the former number one to level back. The errors on the backhand were enough to give the Dane the leverage and dictate whether she would go on to run the remainder of the set.
She did indeed do that blasting Bellis on serve and then for the break to have the ball in hand for the set. She quickly reached three set points but gave up a point on a line drive that fell just short. She didn’t worry about it scoring the set in her second set point ending the first in 35 minutes. The unforced errors were clearly the downfall for the American as she racked up 14 while Wozniacki minimized her troubles and came out an early leader with a 72 percent success on the first serve.
During the break Bellis took a timeout with coach Tom Guthridge asking her to challenge the habits of Wozniacki and turn things around while she still had the chance to do so. She struggled on her opening serve in the second with Wozniacki at a constant attack pace. The 26-year-old stole control to stretch her winning streak to six games. Another game for Wozniacki had her at full control with Bellis going from bad to worse with the unforced errors continuing to rattle her game.
Down 4-0, it didn’t look as if Bellis would be able to get back into it but in the fifth she held serve for the first time in the set avoiding the dreaded bagel. Despite her attempts to be competitive, Wozniacki was a force that couldn’t be stopped as she reached 5-1 to play for the match against the 17-year-old. Though she was denied a final break, effort by Bellis to stay in was her way to a longstanding memory for the tenth seed who returned to serve for a semifinal spot. In a final show of force, Wozniacki reached three match points only to see her forehand shot go long. She tried again with two match points where Bellis made every attempt to win points by sending Wozniacki everyone on court. After a long rally, it came to a close with another error from the American that completed the straight sets win in one hour and seven minutes.
“I changed up my serve and stepped in a little closer to the court and took the ball a little earlier taking time away from her,” Wozniacki said after her match. She finished with a nine-game winning streak and another chance at making the semifinals special once more.
Despite having troubles with the errors and her second serve, Bellis had plenty to be happy about making it this far in a WTA premier event. “She’s a great player, Wozniacki said of her young opponent. “We’re gonna see a lot of her in the future no doubt about that.” She came out firing. I think I made her play some extra balls and she made unforced errors but she’s a great player.”
Next up for the Dane was Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in what would have a little more action on both sides to take place Friday. “It’s gonna be a tough one,” “She’s a player that doesn’t give you a lot of rhythm but I’m ready and just happy to be in another semifinal here.
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