Tennis
Wozniacki ousted in Doha
2012-02-15 19:03
Caroline Wozniacki (File)
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Doha - Caroline Wozniacki, playing her first match since losing her world No 1 ranking, crashed out of the Qatar Open on Wednesday, squandering three match points in a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) defeat to Lucie Safarova.
There was also misery for defending champion Vera Zvonareva who quit with a hip injury midway through her second round match against Romania’s Monica Niculescu.
Czech left-hander Safarova saved three match points in the third set and played a superb tie-breaker to set up a third round clash with Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who defeated compatriot Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 6-4.
Wozniacki, seeded two but now ranked at four in the world, was deposed from the world's top spot when she was knocked out of the Australian Open quarter-finals.
"I just want to get out of here (the press conference room). You don’t want to stay when you lose a match like that," said Wozniacki.
"It’s really disappointing but you have to move on," added the Dane, who was runner up twice in Doha - in the 2010 season-ending championships and last year’s Qatar Open.
Safarova, who is now 2-1 in career clashes with Wozniacki, said: "Unless you win the final point, the match is not over."
"I just wanted to keep fighting. It feels absolutely amazing," added the 25-year-old, who has won four titles on the WTA Tour.
Even the presence of golfer boyfriend Rory McIlroy couldn’t inspire Wozniacki as she made several unforced errors on big points to allow Safarova back into the match in the second set.
The Dane failed to take advantage of three match points in the 10th game of the third.
Buoyed by the let-off, Safarova really turned it on in the tie-breaker, pulling away after the scores were tied 3-3, a lucky net cord giving her a 4-3 lead.
A cracking double-handed backhand passing shot saw the Czech go up 5-3 by which point Wozniacki had mentally given up.
Earlier Zvonareva’s hip problem came back to haunt her for the second consecutive week when she called it quits after trailing Niculescu.
Niculescu had taken the first set 7-5 and was leading 3-2 in the second when Zvonareva, the sixth seed, decided she couldn’t take the pain anymore.
Last week in Pattaya, Zvonareva quit during her quarter-final match with another Romanian, Sorana Cirstea, who was taking on Australia's Samantha Stosur in Doha later on Wednesday.
Earlier, fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland thrashed Great Britain's Anne Keothavong 6-1, 6-2, while French fifth seed Marion Bartoli also had it easy, beating Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2, 6-0.
Serb Jelena Jankovic bowed out, falling to Israeli Shahar Peer 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.
Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, who won the Australian Open to take over the world's top ranking, is the the top seed here.