US Open: Caroline Wozniacki’s misery continues with first-round defeat in New York

Published on 30/08/2012 00:00

Eighth seed and former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki became the biggest casualty of the first round at the US Open yesterday when she crashed out 6-2, 6-2 to Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu.

It was another low in a miserable year for the Dane, who also lost in the first round of Wimbledon, but there were extenuating circumstances here at Flushing Meadows as she had her right knee heavily taped.

Wozniacki, the girlfiend of golf’s world No 1 Rory McIlroy, sustained the injury bidding for her fifth straight New Haven title last week and pulled out during her semi-final against Maria Kirilenko.

The 22-year-old said: “You always want to go in and do your best no matter what’s happening out there. I tried.

“I didn’t play particularly well, made too many errors. It’s unfortunate because it’s a huge tournament, a tournament you want to play well in.

“I think it’s a temporary issue. Hopefully it will get better quickly. It’s frustrating to have some injuries, but it happens to everyone. It’s just about moving on.”

Wozniacki refused to be too downhearted about her season, adding: “The year’s not done yet. Definitely the Grand Slams this year haven’t been great.

“After the year’s finished you can evaluate, you can see what was good and wasn’t so good and work from there. I still have plenty of years in me. Hopefully I can just turn it around and play even better.”

Serena Williams had no such problems, marching into the second round with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Coco Vandeweghe after less than an hour on court.

Despite being seeded only fourth in New York, Williams is in no doubt she is the world’s best player. “Of course I believe that,” said the American after her victory. “I think there’s a number of players on this tour, a few players who believe that.

“I don’t care about the ranking. I’ve been number one. It’s cool. But my thing is just to be the best player. If that means I’m winning and I’m not number one, that’s fine.”

Her one-sided victory came after sister Venus defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands in straight sets and young American Sloane Stephens upset Italy’s No 22 seed Francesca Schiavone.

Serena said she was thriving on her mentoring role with the 19-year-old Stephens. “She’s a great person and an amazing player,” Williams added. “She’s playing so smooth. She looks like she gives no effort when she plays. She’s such a beautiful, beautiful player and, yes, I embrace that.

“I hope I can teach her some things. We can feed off each other. She can teach me a few things – maybe how to be calm on the court!”

Williams laughed about Stephens pressuring her to becoming involved in a relationship. “She’s always encouraging me not to be single. She’s always telling me I’m going to find somebody one day,” she said.

“I always tell her ‘no I’m not’, and complain about it. She’s positive about it. She’s my mentor more than anything. She’s always upbeat.”

Williams started the year saying in Brisbane that she disliked tennis, but she had a more optimistic outlook after beating Vandeweghe. “I love it so much,” she said. “I know I can’t live without it, but one day I’m going to have to let it go. I tell someone: ‘You be careful, I’m going to start loving tennis!’”

Williams said it was difficult to gauge her form because the strong wind inside Arthur Ashe Stadium made it difficult to find her rhythm. “I usually gauge the wind by my hair,” said Serena, who will meet Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the second round. “If it’s really going forward I’m thinking, it’s really windy. I mean, the match was so weird, the conditions were so tough, I couldn’t really play my game. It’s not the best opportunity to grade yourself.”

Venus overpowered Mattek-Sands 6-3, 6-1 and in the process clocked the fastest women’s serve of the tournament to date at 124mph (199kph).

Now ranked No 46, Venus said she yearned to get back into the world top ten, but conceded “it never happens the way you want it to”.

“That’s one thing I found out throughout my whole career,” said Venus, who was forced to withdraw from the tournament shortly before her second-round match last year after discovering she had an auto-immune disease.

“When you don’t make it to one goal, just make some more. But, of course, I’m looking forward to the top ten, all that great stuff. I feel like I have it in me.”

Last night, Victoria Azarenka eased through to the third round by beating qualifier Kirsten Flipkens 6-2, 6-2 in 65 minutes.

She’s the world’s top-ranked player and the Australian Open champion, but Azarenka has never advanced past the fourth round at the US Open. And she hasn’t made it beyond the third round as a top-ten seed in each of the last three years. But Azarenka said: “I don’t feel like I have to prove something.”