US Open star wipes away tears after first high 20 win in almost 5 years

Caroline Wozniacki was overcome with emotion after she progressed to the third spherical of the US Open throughout a rollercoaster night in New York. The resurgent tennis star recorded her first high 20 victory since 2018 when she defeated Petra Kvitova 7-5, 7-6(5).

It was a bodily match that lasted simply over two hours inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. At one level, the crowd began to boo as some audience members walked out while Wozniacki was serving. “Where on earth are they going?”, mentioned the perplexed commentator, who was shocked folks had been leaving in the course of an attractive matchup between two former Grand Slam champions.

In the opening set, Wozniacki took a 6-5 lead by holding with two consecutive aces, earlier than taking her second set level after forcing an error from her Czech opponent. The Dane – twice a runner-up at Flushing Meadows – had two match factors at 5-4 within the second set, however a resilient Kvitova managed to avoid wasting them each earlier than the gamers moved right into a tiebreak.

In the breaker, the 2018 Australian Open champion surged right into a commanding 4-1 lead and went on to shut out the match after Kvitova despatched a return lengthy on match level. In simply the fifth match of her comeback, Wozniacki defeated and the world quantity 11 and two-time Wimbledon champion in simply over two hours, leaving the New York crowd overjoyed.

After shaking fingers on the web, the previous world primary sat in her chair and sobbed as the fact of her newest achievement started to set in. After the match, the elated star mentioned: “Obviously, I knew coming into the match that I had a chance to win, and I believe in myself.

“At the same time, she obviously has had a great year. She’s 11 in the world, loves to play on hard courts. I knew it was going to be a very tough one and I had to play my best tennis.” In 2020 Wozniacki introduced her retirement which shocked the tennis world.

During her time away from the game she gave beginning to daughter Olivia Wozniacki Lee in June 2021 and son James Wozniacki Lee in October 2022. In June, she introduced she would make a triumphant return to the sport, aged 33, on the Canadian Open earlier this month.

She gained her first match again in opposition to Kimberly Birrell however misplaced to Wimbledon champion Markéta Vondroušová within the subsequent spherical. In her ultimate warm-up earlier than the US Open, Wozniacki was crushed by Varvara Gracheva on the Cincinnati Open and has now made it to the third spherical at Flushing Meadows after two morale-boosting wins.

Competing at her first Grand Slam for the reason that 2020 Australian Open, Wozniacki advised reporters afterward: “I’m just so thrilled to have an opportunity to play out on Arthur Ashe Stadium. Three years ago, if you’d asked me, I didn’t think I was ever going to play on one of those courts again in the US Open, especially a night session.

“It just feels pretty incredible to be out there and winning a match like that.” Wozniacki will proceed her newest US Open marketing campaign in opposition to Jennifer Brady in spherical three. The American is on a comeback of her personal after a knee damage stored her out of motion for 2 years.