You're looking at her - the new world #1, Caroline Wozniacki. With her 63 62 win over Petra Kvitova in the 3rd round at the women's stop in Beijing Caro jumps over Serena Williams to take over in the top spot.
On Monday Caroline will become the 20th women ranked at #1 (the rankings began in 1975). Many will argue that this feat should have an asterisk having not yet won a Slam. But it is not unprecedented - Clijsters, Mauresmo, Jankovic and Safina have all done the same. And what do they all have in common? They all played during The Williams Sisters time on tour... just saying.
Caroline has had an impressive year. Her W/L is 56-15 which includes 5 titles: Ponte Vedra Beach, Copenhagen, Montreal, New Haven and Tokyo. And had she not sprained her ankle in Charleston no telling how many more she might have collected.
Her blemish however has been in the Slams this year. She reached the 4th round at the Australian, Qf at Roland Garros, 4th round at Wimbledon and Sf at the US Open. All four of those loses were straight set blow-outs - if I'm being honest. She'll have to better that in 2011 and learn from Safina to keep journalistic pressure at bay.
Back to Beijing. Caro will face Ana Ivanovic in the Qf's. In their two previous matches Caro failed to win a set though both matches were played in '08 when Ana was ranked in the top 3 and Caro was in diapers.
Not a lot of women's players can check being #1 off of their list so big congratulations are well deserved in the Wozniacki camp today. Well done.
Photo: Reuters
Comments