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Halep Kicks Off Day 2 In NYC

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

WTA Insider | On the second day of the WTA Insider Live Blog, the top half of the draw begin their US Open campaigns, including Simona Halep and Serena Williams.

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Sevastova Surges Past Muguruza

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

NEW YORK, NY, USA – Anastasija Sevastova held her nerve to pull off the win of her life at the US Open, dispatching No.3 seed and reigning French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza, 7-5, 6-4.

“It still hasn’t settled in,” she said in her post-match press conference. “I mean, I’m tired mentally and it’s late. Normally I go to sleep at this time.

“It feels great, but it’s still not like I won the tournament. It’s only second round.”

Sevastova was a rising star back in 2011, reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open at 20 years old. But injuries soon sapped the desire away from the young Latvian, who hung up her racquets two years later, and was off the tour for two years more.

“I was playing a little bit. I was doing some sparring. It was better, physically. I was still playing okay. That’s why I think I decided to try again to come back.

“But you never know. A lot of people are trying to come back, and sometimes it doesn’t work out. That’s why I wanted to start from the beginning, from the lowest level.”

Playing on the game’s biggest stage, Sevastova thrilled the Arthur Ashe crowd as she took the first set and raced out to a 5-1 lead in the second, holding two match points in the next game.

“I stopped thinking. I was thinking too much at 5-2, 5-3. Then I said, ‘Okay, I have one more chance at 5-4. She’s serving. I broke her before enough times, so I will try this one more time.’

“And still, even then it’s only 5-5. It’s still an open match like the first set.”

That positivity took the Latvian over the finish line, breaking serve to love to clinch the biggest upset thus far.

“I think it was a very tough match,” Muguruza said after the match. “I think I didn’t play well today. I think she also played well. Everything she was doing was working. Maybe at the last part of the match I could feel like I could have a chance to come back, but, in fact, it was like 50/50.

“So at the end she played well, and that’s it.”

Still, the Spaniard seemed to take the defeat in stride, joking about her less-than-stellar record at the US Open.

“I try to give my all. I try to fight on court. She was just better. I don’t know if it’s bad luck.

“But, well, I did my best result again! I’m just saying that.”

Up next for Sevastova is Kateryna Bondarenko, who won a dramatic 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-5 match over China’s Zheng Saisai earlier in the evening.

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Wozniacki Turns Back The Clock

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

NEW YORK, NY, USA – As Caroline Wozniacki hurtled to all corners of the court before unleashing an unerringly accurate winner to close out her upset win over Svetlana Kuznetsova on Wednesday afternoon, it felt as if someone had wound back the clock.

The manner of the comeback drew instant parallels with two displays from the Dane’s pomp against the same player at the same venue. The first of these, during the a fourth round tussle seven years ago, came from a particularly perilous position, Wozniacki trailing the Russian 6-2, 4-1 only to somehow resuscitate her ailing challenge.

“Definitely I was a much different player back then. I love playing here at the Open. I have great memories here,” Wozniacki said. “I have had matches against Sveta so many times before here where she’s been killing literally on court 6-1, 4-1, and then I have managed to come back and win the match in three sets.

“It’s like, You know what? Just keep going, wait for your opportunity and your chance, and I did that today.”

In both 2009 and 2011, Wozniacki went on to reach the latter stages of the tournament; indeed, in 2009 she would come within one win of that elusive Grand Slam title, only to be denied by Kim Clijsters own fairytale run.

Two years ago, Wozniacki returned to the final once more, this time losing out to the imperious Serena Williams. Since then success has been rather thin on the ground, injuries sending her ranking tumbling down to No.74. However, the former World No.1 is not contemplating hanging up the racquets just yet.

“I think, you know, when you’re home for a big amount of time you realize that, you know, life goes on and you kind of get a rhythm at home. I was actually enjoying my time, making the most of the time that I had,” Wozniacki said about her time away from the tour this spring recovering from an ankle injury.

“I haven’t been able to be home for three months in a row for the last probably over 10 years. So, you know, if I have to look at the positive of things, that was a positive. But I always had in my head that I just have to keep working hard and I’ll come back and hopefully play strong and play well. I knew that it’s not easy to come back, and especially, you know, you are going to get tough draws. I’m a player that needs matches to kind of get into the tournament.

“But I wasn’t thinking about quitting. I mean, I know that I have a lot of opportunities, I have a lot of other interests, and my life is going to be good regardless. But, you know, I’m still young. Hopefully I have a few more years in me.”

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