Friendly fire as Wozniacki, Serena eye title
Print Edition
SERENA Williams is steaming at full speed toward a sixth US Open triumph, but Caroline Wozniacki isn’t conceding anything in her quest for a first grand slam crown.
The two friends meet today in the championship match of the last grand slam of the year.
World No. 1 Williams is vying to become the first woman to win three straight titles at Flushing Meadows since Chris Evert won four on the trot in the 1970s.
With a win she’ll join Evert and Martina Navratilova on 18 career grand slam titles — a pursuit that has been stalled as she failed to make it past the fourth round in any other major this year.
Her third-round singles exit at Wimbledon was followed by a bizarre departure from doubles, Williams looking weak and woozy before sister and partner Venus led her from the court mid-match.
Following on from her second-round French Open exit, it sparked immediate speculation not only as to the state of her game but also her psyche.
“There’s always skeptics,” said Williams, who says she was suffering from a virus in London. “I worked really hard for Wimbledon. I was disappointed and sad — and shocked — that I wasn’t able to win.”
Williams hasn’t dropped a set en route to the final in New York, dispatching 17th-seeded semifinal opponent Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 6-3 in an hour.
She’s a prohibitive favorite over Wozniacki, far removed from her days at No. 1 back in 2010 and back in a grand slam final for the first time since her 2009 US Open runner-up finish to Kim Clijsters.
That’s fine with Wozniacki.
“I always believe in myself when I go out to play,” Wozniacki said after securing her finals berth when China’s Peng Shuai dramatically retired with heat illness while trailing in their semifinal.
Williams has won eight of their nine encounters, but Wozniacki is encouraged that in recent meetings in Montreal and Cincinnati she pushed her good friend to three sets.
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