Caroline Wozniacki was two points from a massive upset at the Wimbledon Championships but fought to stay in the ladies draw at the All England Tennis Club. The former number one forced a third set against Annett Kontaveit to win 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 on Court One. Wozniacki overcame tremendous adversity and schooled her opponent in the final set to reach the fourth round.
Both met on the grass courts last season in their first meeting that took a dramatic path. After a very long three setter, it was the Estonian getting the better of her higher experience opponent. Kontaveit took down Wozniacki with two strong fights in the late stages to beat her in the fourth round at Nottingham. While it was a smaller tournament, the stakes were so much higher at the All England Club where the former number one knows what it takes to defeat anyone in her way. It would be whether or not her 21-year-old adversary can act accordingly against her first well known opponent in the tournament.
She got right to work firing an ace off that counted despite Wozniacki still moving on court. She added a winner giving the indication of her power that resulted in a love service. The Estonian went further with her success in the opening game and took a commanding 3-0 lead over the Dane who was having trouble returning the ball more than her own problems on the second serve.
She managed to keep the first working for her that led to her ending the shutout for Kontaveit and get on the board. Wozniacki broke back in the fifth showing her control of the ball and that the redirects from her end could take down her opponent. On the last point, both players got into a serious rally where the final smash from Kontaveit went long on the baseline to give the former number one momentum.
A small concern from the Kontaveit camp arrived in the first game when she slipped behind the baseline. With all her efforts, the 21-year-old picked herself back up, got back on the rally to still win the point. It didn’t help her win bonus points with the fight as Wozniacki closed the gap in the sixth pushing to take the lead. Picking up ground in the seventh was becoming a heavy task with the weather inching up to unbearable levels. They both ended up in a draw on deuce where Kontaveit held serve after a singular break.
She consolidated another win on the break putting the heavy strain on Wozniacki to survive the set by any means. Her attempts to get it done on the Estonian’s serve were helped by an unforced errors and forehand winners. Kontaveit answered back to save the break and win the opening set on another bad return from the sixth seed. It was just the eighth error committed but the second serve was heavily responsible for her troubles on dealing with the 21-year-old who clearly had her eyes on the prize. It took 35 minutes for the set to complete and despite having a rough second serve, the net points, returns and winners gave the Estonian her biggest feat to strive for the upset against the veteran star.
She moved into the second set with another triple break of Wozniacki followed by a strong service hold that gave her a four-game winning streak. Wozniacki smashed it apart with any sort of win keeping within two games of Kontaveit. The Estonian remained defensive of her score and reached 4-2 before the Dane picked up another needed service hold in the seventh. Kontaveit made Wozniacki’s fight look microscopic as her moves on serve in the eighth led to a show of tremendous skills on the grass courts. From lobs to near the net with amazing placement to winners far out of reach, the 21-year-old made it 5-3 with one game left for a spot in the fourth round. She was denied getting it in the ninth as the former number one defending every return in the rally to stay in the match.
It was the Estonian back on serve where her path to the match began with another pair of winners to get things started. The Dane pushed back to level the score before a seven-shot rally handed her another break point. It was a lifeline she held a grip on and never let go as the 11th shot in the rally sliced to Kontaveit’s left and level the score at five all. The full comeback for Wozniacki clearly turned the tables on the young Estonian whose straight set dreams were fading quickly.
Kontaveit had three break points in the 11th and were quickly erased by unforced errors on her part. The door was open for the Dane who forced deuce but watched it slam shut as the Estonian gained the critical point to serve for it a second time. Wozniacki’s efforts in the 12th were nothing short of aggressive as she made it clear of her intentions to push a third set into action. Kontaveit grew nervous in the process, got tight and ended up forcing a tiebreaker between the two.
It was a fight for control and the strategies were different from the other. Wozniacki’s began to pay off in the fourth point as she took a defensive stance to break Kontaveit into giving up easy points. The 21-year-old had moments of faltering which gave the Dane the lead at 4-3. From then on, Wozniacki didn’t allow her opponent another point as she took the tiebreaker and forced her young opponent to play on. They went 47 minutes in the set where it went from a stunning ending of defeat to a stunning desire to compete forward.
The newfound life for the former number came together right at the start of the deciding set where Wozniacki delivered a blow on the break of serve. She added another to change the dynamics of the match and be the one with plenty of comfort and energy to overcome her opponent. The fourth game was the first fight for middle ground from Kontaveit as she attempted to keep Wozniacki within reach. The two played the fourth on deuce which went a break before a forehand error from the Estonian added to Wozniacki’s winning streak.
She easily reached 5-1 with the 21-year-old hanging on for dear life but as she reached a love service, Wozniacki came all the way back to force deuce and attain match point. Kontaveit saved one in the game with net front presence and won it to play in the eighth. Kontaveit was slowly creating a never give up stance against Wozniacki as she found a way to come back against the service of the Dane. Despite her late attempts, the save came to the hands of Wozniacki who nailed a shot that was challenged and shown that a third of the ball hit the line to end the two hour dramatic match.
“I have no idea,” Wozniacki said to how she came back from the second set. “She was playing really well and I wasn’t playing my best tennis to start off with. I was really trying and fighting hard it just wasn’t going my way. I couldn’t get many serves in and I just didn’t feel like myself out there. I knew that I had to keep digging in deep and felt her getting nervous in the second set and I just went for it at that point and had nothing to lose and I got a little lucky and in the third set I played really well.”
She’ll go into the fourth round facing Coco Vandeweghe on Manic Monday. “It’s definitely going to be a difficult one but right now I’m just happy to escape this one and get ready for the next one.”
No comments:
Post a Comment