Tough-talking bridesmaid Caroline Wozniacki has suddenly changed tack for her Australian Open quarter-final with wounded titleholder Kim Clijsters on Tuesday.
Defence has been Wozniacki’s best form of attack during her ascension to the top ranking but the world No.1 was on the front foot before taking on her grand slam nemesis at Melbourne Park.
Much maligned for her inability to validate her lofty status with a maiden major – and under attack on Monday from tennis legend Martina Navratilova – Wozniacki could have been forgiven for lamenting Clijsters’ miracle fourth-round comeback win over Li Na.
The Danish diva has lost both her previous meetings with Clijsters and, significantly, both were played on hard court on two of the sport’s biggest stages.
The Belgian powerhouse thwarted Wozniacki in the 2009 US Open final at Flushing Meadows and then again in the Tour Championships the following year in Doha.
Wozniacki, though, believes the form she showed in eliminating Jelena Jankovic 6-0 7-5 on Sunday will suffice and insists it’s Clijsters who needs to step up to reach the semi-finals for a seventh time in her Australian Open swan song.
“I don’t think I have to play better. I just have to play the same way,” the top seed said.
“If I do, Kim really needs to play well to beat me.
“For me, it’s important to think about myself and I believe I’m a great player.
“If I lose to someone who just played better than me that day, it’s just take my hat off and say ‘well done and I’ll be back next time and try to do better.
“Kim is a great player. She has won a lot. She’s done a lot through her career. I know it’s her last Australian Open, so I’m sure she will give everything.”
Clijsters indeed gave it everything just to make the last eight.
Seemingly down and out facing four match points in the second-set tiebreaker against Li, and running on a jabbed-up left ankle, the four-times grand slam champion summoned the will power to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
But the 28-year-old, who contested only eight tournaments last season due to ankle, wrist and shoulder problems before hurting her hip in Brisbane this month, admitted she was unsure how her latest injury would hinder her once it cooled down.
“I have the best people around me to take care of me and to make sure that this is hopefully not going to get any worse,” Clijsters said.
“That’s why I’m sitting here with my leg up, to try and keep the swelling down as much as possible. We will see.”
While Clijsters has been there and done that, victory is vital for Wozniacki in her bid to fend off the second-ranked Petra Kvitova and third-ranked Victoria Azarenka, who can seize her top ranking in Melbourne.
“Clearly nobody feels that Wozniacki is a true No.1,” Navratilova said.
“If we still had the same ranking system we were using six years ago when they were giving bonus points for beating players, Kvitova would have ended up No.1 because she had beaten more top players than Wozniacki.”
