Caroline Wozniacki made the US Open semis for the third straight year as she came through a tense second set to beat Andrea Petkovic, 6-1 7-6. Wozniacki was totally dominant in the first set making very few errors and hitting the ball with slightly more aggression than usual. Petkovic started with attacking intent but quickly went into her shell as she made 15 unforced errors.
The second set was error-strewn as both players held lengthy service games at the beginning of the set. Petkovic got broken at 2-1 but managed to break straight back as both players struggled for consistency. Wozniacki broke again to move 5-3 ahead but failed to serve it out as Petkovic attacked the predictable 2nd serve and kept fighting to break the Dane's serve. However Petkovic then played a disastrous service game at 5-6 and was broken once again. Petkovic seemed to get herself into winning positions so many time in this set but failed to put away the ball and was made to pay for those errors.
The tiebreak was really entertaining to watch with some gruelling and tense rallies. Wozniacki went 2-0 up with a forehand winner at the net and a mammoth 30 point rally ending in a Petkovic error. Petkovic levelled up at 2-2 but after another gruelling winner, Petkovic failed to put a simple forehand in the court as the grinding play of Wozniacki won her more points. This is the strength of Wozniacki because she makes her opponents play one more ball, which wins her those extra crucial points. By keeping her errors to a minimum, Wozniacki earnt three match points at 6-3 up... Petkovic saved two with volleys at the net; however Wozniacki took it on the third match point as she drew the error from Petkovic once again.
Wozniacki will now play Serena Williams in the semi-finals, after she beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 7-5 6-1. Pav did very well to contend with Serena throughout the first set, which contained seven breaks of serve. However Serena strolled through the second set to set up a mouthwatering encounter with the world number one. I now see that the women's semis have been scheduled for Saturday night so I will not be able to watch them, but I look forward to seeing the result. I cannot see anything other than a Serena win; Wozniacki has the ability to chase down balls and will no doubt win a number of games this way. However she will have to show some attacking intent and serve extremely well to actually win this one. Good Luck Caroline...
Prediction - Serena 6-4 6-3
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