Favorites for the Roland Garros title keep falling like crazy, very early into the tournament already, and the latest to be sent home is world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki who was humbled by Daniela Hantuchova 6-1 6-3 in the third round.
In the first set, Wozniacki earned no break points and scored no winners (Hantuchova hit 15) and Hantuchova took the set in 27 minutes. In the second set Hantuchova raced to a 4-0 lead, and even though Wozniacki produced some sort of comeback it was the Slovakian who didn’t allow her opportunity to be wasted and broke Wozniacki in the final game to advance to the fourth-round meeting with the 2009 French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Other major upsets were Kim Clijsters’ yesterday’s loss in the second round, and today’s exits of last year’s finalist Samantha Stosur and hot young player Julia Goerges, who by the way said for herself that she had no chance to lift the trophy. Bizarrely, a match between Wozniacki and Goerges was an expected outcome, and it was awaited since Goerges defeated the top-ranked Dane in their last to meetings, but now none of them advanced. Goerges lost to Marion Bartoli 3-6 6-2 6-4 in the third round. (photos: Cedric Fischer, Ralf Reinecke)
pfffff 🙁
Wozzy didn’t play very well, I think the only reason she won those 3 games is because Hanti had a call that didn’t go her way and was upset, but she gritted her teeth and won the last 2 games. If Hanti plays like this against Kuz she could make the final.
As I have always said, Wozniacki lacks a tennis game. She has a one track strategy. She acts as a human backboard. She has an underpaced serve, a middle of the court shot, long rallies to draw the error on the opponent. Opponents now know her game. She lost to Sharapova in quick fashion two weeks ago. She lost to Goerges twice in a row, Stuggart and Madrid. People are now beating her at their game and no longer trying to hang with her at hers. She can’t win a slam win the field is the weakest it’s been in years.
She plays alot to rack up the points. She boasts and brags. I am so happy for Hantuchova. A job well done. The #1 player in the world is still Serena Williams. Whether she is on the court or not. Even though she was bounced, the current #1 active player is Clijsters. The talent in womens tennis is the worst it’s been since before the Williams girls hit the scene. It’s pathetic to watch. Go ahead Sharapova (whom I can’t stand), win the French while the best players are out of the game. It’s the only way you can win. I am pulling for Kutznetsova or Schiavone. Maybe another dark horse will sneak through and win at the finish line. I’m focused on the men….much more entertaining to watch. Go Rafa!
Hantuchova was playing the tennis of her life. She obviously worked a lot on a strategy and it work perfectly well. Caroline is a better player out of the two but today she just did not have the answer.
Denise for someone who so focused on mens tennis you’ve got quite a lot to say about the womens. Well if don’t like it don’t watch. I’m enjoying the WTA at the moment, it’s unpredictable although it has a well-established leader. Tennis should be about challenges and this match showed that everyone is keen to take them up.
Gregoire, I’m also gutted for Caro but she’s still no.1 and will bounce back for sure.
Denise, you’re definitely right. Serena Williams is the #1 player in the world: https://womenstennisblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/article-0-0BA9067C00000578-240_634x685.jpg
Let’s wait that she is out of the top 100 within two or three months.
What is pathetic is your post, not watching women tennis.
I’m really glad for Hantuchova, she’s a great player who I think achieved less in her career than she should have. This was a well-deserved win.
And P!nky, haha your JJ is moving through 🙂
Marija, I totally agree. Hantuchova choked away a lot of well-played matches. I wonder how far will she go this time.
If you read Caroline’s tweets, she doesn’t seem to be so affected – for sure not like after AO. She was certainly not believing… She seems more concerned about how to go to Saturday Champions League football final. Disappointing 🙁
I didn’t saw the game because I was on the university but with my phone i followed the scores of the match and when i saw that daniela has won the first set 6-1 i put on my twitter that she’s not a player like garcia and that she could win the match! And she did! Very happy for her..and I’m also very happy with dulko’s result! I was not very confident with caroline at roland garros..but I hope her to win a slam because for me is not good to be n1 if you didn’t, for now she’s not a really n1.
Well, I will follow your post later
In my opinion caroline must think twice when she decides to play a tournament the week before a grand slam..
Congrats to Dani on her win.
Caro is defintely #1 and no one else. To understand her better it helps to realize that her top priority at this time is not winning slams but gaining more points to maintain her ranking. Woz uses that #1 ranking to sign lucretive endorsement deals – absolutely nothing wrong with that and I commend her for it cause Caro (like Maria and Serena) is making far more money off court than on.
By winning Brussels, Woz added more points to her total – good move and she’s got a nice cushion of points above everyone else. Caro’s main goal is to end the year ranked #1 and she’s in very good shape.
Don’t misunderstand me, if a slam is available then Caro will surely try her best to win it but she’s well aware that at age 20, there’s plenty of time left for that to happen, in the meantime she’s in a very nice money-making sweet spot.
Helen, I think that a Grand Slam title would bring Wozniacki an avalanche of sponsorships, much more than her Brussels title and the points she gained there and in the other tournaments. And not only that, a Grand Slam title would be a good boost to her ranking.
Helen…Are you kidding me? If that is what she is doing, she should be stripped of her #1 position.
Why? For playing better overall than others? If she’s that bad how come slam winners weren’t able to do better? Take Schiavone, she has a slam but what else has she done? Caroline needs to improve as far as GS are concerned that’s for sure but her overall performance is far better than the results of her colleagues.
Of course, if she had a GS to her name that would be a big plus. I think the current sponsors will stick with her though as she will not fall from her ranking despite not doing well here.
helen i didn’t understand your point! If she doesn’t play to win a slam why she plays roland garros! On my opinion very stupid! A n1 player must win a slam, not brussels! I think the greatest playerson the tournament now are kutnesova (i don’t know how to write wellher name) li na, francesa and vika.. But i really don’t know who is goingto win!
Tennis players have a pretty small window to collect championships especially at a grand slam level. There is always someone else coming up from behind to over take you. With the level of talent on the tour currently, this is the time for her to step up and win a slam, not just chase points or sponsorships. The longer she goes without winning a slam, the more pressure she puts on herself and the more questions she will have to answer. Why go through all that? You should do all you can to peak for the slams. That does not mean you have to stop winning on the WTA tour. It just means that you have to recognize that some tournaments are more important than others.
is not good to see that kim, who’s a player thaton her ranking has points of two gs and a masters tittle is not the n1 player.. Nole now has more tittles than rafa and by the day he’s still the n2 , because on atp that things doesn’t happen..wining a slam is a priority for atp players and not for wta..very bad
even though I love wozzy, I am soo glad to see some slovak player winning again 🙂 Pome Dani 🙂
Hantuchova played so well in the first set, she really showed how good a player she is. I’m delighted for her, she deserved this win. Really looking forward to her match with Kuznetsova, it should be great!
I feel quite sorry for Woz, according to azarenka she was devestated by the loss, and come on, the amount of pressure on her to win a grand slam title is immense. Even her own father/and coach commented to members of the media that she wasn’t playing like she should in her match against Wozniak. No wonder she had so little confidence on the court.
Still, well done to Hant who played a great match. Hope she will proceed further through draw.
Just she because she tanked a single match she’s not worthy of no 1? How illogical. She has the most number of titles so far and has recorded her best clay season to date, a surface she has the most difficulty playing in.
Frankly, I’m not surprised she got eliminated early on the tournament but that does not automatically suggest that she is not a legitimate slam contender by any means.
I noticed that dooming Wozniacki is very popular topic in the media. Same as with other ‘slamless’ no1s. I think that maybe this is a purpose to keep them ‘slamless’ and help sustain a good image of other players. I think even if she won this slam there would be articles saying that she won when X, Y, Z were not there.
Marine, I absolutely agree with your last sentence, and I’m afraid that would totally be the case.
marine, you are totally right. haters will hate whatever happens.
So sweat…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s9CaVTWsmg
Gregoire, thanks for sharing. I was glad to see Hantuchova win a big match, but pity she didn’t build up on that…
Important to remember how good her balance is when she is hitting the ball.