MELBOURNE – On November 2nd, 2014, Caroline Wozniacki ran the New York marathon in 3 hours and 26 minutes, while Serena Williams waited for her at the finish line to hug and congratulate her best friend and rival. On Saturday, the beautiful Danish girl deservedly won her first and long-awaited Grand Slam title in Melbourne after a true tennis marathon that was contested in such heavy and humid conditions that Tennis Australia was forced to suspend the match between the second and third set, allowing Caroline and her opponent Simona Halep of Romania to take a 10-minute break.
The highly entertaining final lasted 2 hours and 50 minutes during which the two contestants engaged in gruelling rallies and covered the court with great tenacity and speed. At the end, Simona Halep had to throw in the towel after climbing back from 1-3 to 4-3 in the third and final set: 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 was the result in Wozniacki’s favor. Despite a few tears at the end of the match, Halep should be proud of her performance at this year’s Australian Open. The Romanian sprained her ankle in her first-round match and then saved an astonishing 5 match-points in her route to the final – 3 in her third-round match against Lauren Davis and 2 in her semifinal clash with Angelique Kerber.
We will see if this devastating loss will hamper Halep’s mentality in the future: The Romanian has lost all three Grand Slam finals that she has contested so far in her career and all three defeats have come in very close three set matches. Last June she suffered an unexpected defeat against Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the French Open final after leading 3-1 in the third set.
Wozniacki has enjoyed an illustrious career so far, with 29 WTA titles and 67 weeks spent at the top of the rankings between 2010 and 2012. A Grand Slam title was the only accomplishment that was missing from the Dane’s resume. With her monumental win in Melbourne, Wozniacki is now back at No. 1 in the world rankings and this time around her reign will certainly be considered more legit. She won’t be a “Slamless” No. 1 anymore.
Simona Halep, who has been sitting at the top of the rankings since October 9th, 2017, will drop down to No. 2. In her post-match press conference, when a reporter mentioned that “Great champions such as Evert and Navratilova lost their first few Grand Slam finals,” the Romanian replied: “Yes, but then they ended up winning many… I hope I will finally win one at my fourth attempt!”
Wozniacki, who flirted with defeat in the second round when she had to climb back from 1-5 in the third set and save two match-points against Jana Fett, has now elevated her career to new heights. With 67 weeks and counting at No. 1, she is ahead of great champions such as Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters, Arantxa Sanchez, Jennifer Capriati, Garbine Muguruza and Evonne Goolagong in the all-time women’s rankings.
“It is such an emotional day for me, I have been waiting for this moment for so long. I know it is a tough day for you, Simona. I am really sorry for you,” Caroline said during the trophy presentation. She also thanked her dad Piotr and her fiancé David Lee – a former basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs.
The men’s final will be contested by the great Roger Federer – who is chasing Grand Slam title No. 20 – and Marin Cilic of Croatia. Roger leads their head-to-head 8-1, but Cilic’s only win occurred in a very important occasion: A crucial semifinal clash at the 2014 US Open – a tournament that the Croat ended up winning.
This will be Federer’s 30th Grand Slam final and Cilic’s 3rd. There is no need to mention that Roger will be the overwhelming favorite. His record speaks for itsel
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com )
