ISTANBUL: Caroline Wozniacki, who celebrated becoming year-end world number one for the second successive year on Wednesday, marked the occasion by crashing out of the WTA Championships while Australia’s Samantha Stosur destroyed China’s Li Na 6-1, 6-0 in little more than an hour to reach the semifinals for the second consecutive year on Friday. . Although Wozniacki topped the rankings for fully 64 weeks, she was so outplayed by Petra Kvitova, the Wimbledon champion from the Czech Republic, that she looked anything but the best player in the world.
Indeed there were moments when Wozniacki was so out of sorts during a 6-4, 6-2 defeat that the crowd began to applaud her out of sympathy.
Twice she called her father-coach Piotr on to court and once she asked for the trainer, who appeared to take her blood pressure, and the setback left Wozniacki with only one victory in her three group matches.
Kvitova’s win ensured she qualifies for the semifinals after two matches, and that both Vera Zvonareva, the Russian who beat Wozniacki on Wednesday, and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, would finish above the top ranked player.
It made an incongruous follow-up to the presentation made to her for becoming year-end number one after Maria Sharapova withdrew with a damaged ankle the evening before.
Wozniacki’s dominance of the rankings was described as “a huge personal achievement” by Stacey Allaster, the chief executive of the WTA, with her name being linked to a group of only seven women — including Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf .
Wozniacki herself called it “a dream come true”, but it would arguably have been as big a boost for her to win the WTA Championships, a bigger title then any she has yet won. US Open champion Stosur had far too much firepower for the listless 29-year-old as she romped to victory in front of a large crowd in the Sinan Erdem Arena. She has now won all six career meetings against the French Open champion, dropping just one set in the process.
Azarenka, who has already won the group after crushing victories over both Stosur and Li, completes the group phase later against alternate Marion Bartoli who will get one match in the big-money event after Maria Sharapova’s withdrawal.
Before that the final Red Group match features already-qualified Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska.
Radwanska, the world number eight and the final player to qualify for the tournament’s Istanbul debut, needs just a set to claim the runners-up spot in the group ahead of Russia’s Vera Zvonareva.
The winner of the match will top the group and play Stosur in the semifinals. (Agencies)