Only rain postponed the inevitable that was Caroline Wozniacki and another WTA title in 2010.Wozniacki avenged her U.S. Open semifinal loss on Monday when she defeated Vera Zvonareva, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, to capture the China Open in Beijing.
It is Wozniacki's sixth title of the year and the 20-year-old Dane has now won five of her last seven tournaments. She has a tour-leading 59 victories this season and is on a 10-match winning streak, having claimed two WTA Premier event tournament titles in Tokyo and Beijing the past couple of weeks.
The tournament final in Beijing was played on Monday because heavy rain postponed the match one day. Wozniacki came into the match on Monday having won 22 of 23 contests, with her only loss coming to Zvonareva in the U.S. Open semifinal, while she was seeded No. 1.
The top-seeded Dane played solid tennis on Monday, controlling her serve and not allowing the second-seeded Zvonareva to garner any momentum in the third set. Wozniacki held serve throughout the decisive set, while Zvonareva's serve wilted.
Wozniacki rallied back to beat Zvonareva who led 3-1 in the first set, before the Russian lost five straight games.
"I thought in general I played a really, really good match," Wozniacki said. "I just stayed focused, I kept running, I tried to keep the pressure on her, tried to keep her moving and I thought we played a really, really good match."
Wozniacki passed an idle Serena Williams on Thursday in Beijing to move into the No. 1 ranking spot on tour for the first time in her career. When the new rankings are released this week, Wozniacki will sit atop of the WTA.
Wozniacki becomes the third woman in recent years to reach the No. 1 spot without claiming a Grand Slam victory in her career, following Jelena Jankovic and Dinara Safina.
Her next goal is a Grand Slam title, "I feel like I'm at a very high level and can beat anyone," Wozniacki said. "If it doesn't happen next year, I'm still young and have a lot of years ahead of me."
Serena Williams, who was expected to come back in Linz this week, has also recently announced that she will most likely miss the rest of the calendar year due to a painful right foot that she injured in an off-court incident during July in Munich.
Wozniacki and Zvonareva have both secured their spots at the year-end WTA championships in Doha, starting Oct. 26.
"I feel like I'm not burned out," Wozniacki said. "I feel I've done really well in my latest tournaments and I'm looking forward to Doha."
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
