Madrid: World number one Caroline Wozniacki suffered a third-round defeat to Julia Goerges at the Madrid Open on Wednesday when the unseeded German won 6-4 1-6 6-3 for her second victory over the Dane in two weeks.
The rangy, big-serving Goerges, who climbed to 27th in the rankings following her win against Wozniacki in the Stuttgart final last month, mixed up her game with looping shots and then pounced on any loose balls with some aggressive drives.
Wozniacki, 20, seemed frustrated by her 22-year-old opponent's tactics and gifted her the decisive break in the eighth game of the third set when she sent the ball wide before Goerges confidently served out to love.
French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy, the third seed, was another high-profile casualty on the clay at the Magic Box arena, falling 7-6 6-3 to unseeded American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Fifth seed Samantha Stosur, who lost to Schiavone in the final at Roland Garros last year, also crashed out, upset by Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 6-3.
Goerges, who is making her debut in the Spanish capital and will play the unseeded Pavlyuchenkova on Friday for a place in the last four, said she was proud of her recent achievements.
"I tried to get her (Wozniacki) out of her rhythm and not let her push me and be the first to push her," she told a news conference.
"I like to play higher balls to her backhand especially and if she goes short I have a chance to go for the shots."
BLISTERING FORM
Ranked 21st, the 19-year-old Pavlyuchenkova is the youngest player in the top 50 and her win over Stosur, the number eight, was her second success against a top-10 player this year.
Stosur also fell to Goerges in Stuttgart and the German attributed her recent success to the hard graft she had been putting in with coach Sascha Nensel.
"You have to keep working and believing in yourself and then you see how it ends up," she said.
"There is nothing to say it will stay like that but I am feeling confident right now," added Goerges, describing herself as an aggressive player and naming former world number one Martina Hingis of Switzerland as her tennis idol.
Victoria Azarenka continued her blistering form when she crushed Spanish wildcard Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-0 6-3 to set up a quarter-final against Czech Lucie Safarova or Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia.
Belarussian Azarenka, the highest seed left in the draw at number four, has dropped only five games in her three matches this week and is chasing a third title of the year following triumphs in Miami and Marbella.
In other third-round matches, China's Li Na, losing finalist at this year's Australian Open and the sixth seed, fought back from a set down to beat Italian Roberta Vinci 2-6 6-2 6-1.
Czech 16th seed Petra Kvitova, conqueror of second-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva on Wednesday, and Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova are already due to meet in the last eight.
Comments
0 comment