Caroline Wozniacki is on her second life in Melbourne. So far, she is making good use of it.
One round after after staging a miracle comeback from 5-1, 40-15, double match point down in the third set against Jana Fett, Wozniacki advanced to the last 16 in far more routine fashion by defeating Kiki Bertens 6-4, 6-3 on Friday. But nobody will stop talking about the Dane’s great escape against Fett–at least not as long as she is still alive in this tournament; not the fans, not the media, and not Wozniacki herself.
“I felt her tighten up just slightly,” she said of Fett. “I thought to myself, ‘You know what, at this point, make her win it, don’t give it to her.’ When I managed to win it to 5-2, I said, ‘Okay, I’m still alive. She still has four more balls to win in a row or in the game.’ I was like, ‘Just try and stay aggressive.’ That was that.”
“Yeah, definitely,” she said when asked if this was one of the best comebacks of her career. “I’m very proud of the way I came back. It was definitely very difficult. (It) definitely wasn’t my best match, especially in the beginning. It was very different conditions. I just tried to mentally stay focused; tried to play my game. It was very hard, and she was playing well. All of a sudden seeing myself down, almost out of the tournament, I started playing better and started really playing the tennis that I wanted to play.”
Over the past year, Rybarikova has been playing perhaps better tennis than she ever had been–currently registering at No. 21 in the world. The Slovakian 29-year-old lost her season-opening match in Sydney to CiCi Bellis, but she appears to be back on track in Melbourne. Rybarikova earned a place in round four by defeating Taylor Townsend, Kirsten Flipkens, and Kateryna Bondarenko, requiring three sets against both Flipkens and Bondarenko.
“In the third set I think I played very well,” she said after seeing off Bondarenko. “Hopefully it will be working for the next match.”
It will have to be working against Wozniacki, who seems to be playing freely and without pressure because of her new lease on life at Melbourne Park.
“I was close to being out,” the world No. 2 assured. “[My day off in between matches] was a nice day, still feeling like I’m still alive. I still have an opportunity. [On Friday] I walked out and I thought I started better in my match; started playing a little better. I’m just happy to be through. t was definitely a little bit easier [on Friday] than it was the other day. I’m going to take it and move forward.”
Pick: Wozniacki in 2
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Caroline Wozniacki.
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