Caroline Wozniacki and Carla Suarez Navarro will be squaring off for the eighth time in their careers when they meet again in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on Tuesday night.
Wozniacki leads the head-to-head series 5-2, but Suarez Navarro won their most recent meeting 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 last spring on the clay courts of Madrid. It is worth noting that Wozniacki is 3-0 against the veteran Spaniard on hard courts.
“We [have played] a lot of times [against each other],” Suarez Navarro said. “I know how she plays. I know how tough she is…. (It) will be a really tough match…. It will be a really interesting match…. For sure I have to be focused all the time and 100 percent [to] beat Caroline. She’s fighting (for) every ball, but at the same time she can play aggressive. She has a lot of experience [in] these rounds.”
Wozniacki certainly used her experience to make an unreal comeback in her second-round tilt against Jana Fett. And “unreal” may be an understatement. The Dane trailed 5-1, 40-15, double-match point in the third set only to save both match points and make the rest history. She did not drop another game the rest of the way, ultimately beating a forlorn Fett 6-4 in the third. On new life, Wozniacki thereafter made much easier work of Kiki Bertens and Magdalena Rybarikova.
“I feel good; I think being almost out of the tournament, you have nothing to lose after that,” the world No. 2 explained. “You just go out there and you enjoy yourself. I played really well from being down 5-1. Since then I’ve just kept that going basically.”
Suaraz Navarro made a great escape of her own, mounting a comeback from a set and 4-1, double-break down against Anett Kontaveit on Sunday. Even after forcing a third set, she still saw Kontaveit serve for the match at 5-4. Suarez Navarro again snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and eventually prevailed 4-6, 6-4, 10-8.
“I feel really good right now,” CSN noted. “I mean, I’m really happy. (It) was two years ago (when I was last in the Australian Open quarterfinals), so I’m happy. Always when you reach the quarterfinals or the finals round, you must be happy.”
Will her happiness continue through the quarters? Although it is possible, but Suarez Navarro’s hard-court history against her upcoming opponent is not favorable and Wozniacki has picked up the pace substantially over her last two rounds.
Pick: Wozniacki in 2
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who ya got?
Caro in two tight sets.I like both players,and it’s been a strange old tournament,so an upset wouldn’t be a shock.
I’ve got Woz! Mertens just beat Svitolina, so Woz could very well get to the final. However, I don’t she can beat any of the girls on the other side of the draw. The winner will come from Halep, Pliskova, Kerber or Keys.