World number ten Caroline Wozniacki has been denied further advancement in the Australian Open after being defeated by world No.75 Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Kuznetsova defeated Wozniacki on Rod Laver Arena in a 6-2 2-6 7-5 win in Melbourne.
As her form had suggested, Kuznetsova started the match with perfect tactics, cutting Wozniacki off at the net, and firing 18 winners to avoid the Dane’s preferred tortured baseline tussles.
An early break of serve was all she needed to package up the momentum, and she broke again to take the set, 6-2 after 40 minutes.
But then she lost her way. As Wozniacki’s level improved, going for more pop on her serve and more rip on her ground-strokes Kuznetsova’s form went wayward. The score almost perfectly reversed, Wozniacki leveled the match after a further 33 minutes, producing just three unforced errors to the Russian’s 13.
Going into the third set, with ice towels called into commission, predicting whose corner the momentum would fall in seemed unfathomable. With Wozniacki, the 10th seed, trying to further up the ante, Kuznetsova took a medical timeout at 2-3 on serve for some attention to her toes.
Wozniacki pounced. She fashioned two break points, but Kuznetsova saved herself. Again, the Russian serving at 3-4, Wozniacki had an opportunity, a 27-shot rally ending in her favour. But the two-time Grand Slam champion found a backhand volley and a backhand winner. She held.
With the set passing the 60-minute mark, Kuznetsova strung together another series of winners to hold again for 5-5 in a fashion so gritty it was startling. Wozniacki had no more answers. The Russian broke, and then served it out; a backhand winner, her 52nd winner of the match, to finish it.
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