Over the past year both Caroline Wozniacki and Vania King have gotten a lot of ink for their play at the majors—King by winning doubles titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, Wozniacki for having the audacity to become world No. 1 without winning Slam No. 1. IT’S TRUE! HAVE YOU HEARD? SHE HASN’T WON A SLAM! (Wozniacki has won the Wimbledon girls’ singles title, but we’re talking a big girl’s Slam here.)
Coming into today's match, in what was the fourth main draw appearance in Melbourne for both, Wozniacki surely recalled their encounter last year at Indian Wells. The Dane won, but only after recovering from a 1-4 deficit in the third set.
It was much easier this time around, with Wozniacki winning 6-1, 6-0 in under an hour. The one-sided score owed less to the level of King’s play than Wozniacki’s. The top-ranked player in the world played like it. Defensively, she was just a little better than usual; offensively, she was much more than just “a little better” than normal. She displayed, as Martina Navratilova put it, “too much power, too much depth, too much everything.”
Wozniacki hit 26 winners, while limiting her errors to just eight. That’s more than twice as many winners as King had, and fewer than half as many errors. More surprising was that Wozniacki was far more successful at net than her opponent, a doubles standout. Wozniacki won 15 of 18 approaches, while King won only four of 12. King didn’t approach at the right times or from the right spots, but then again, Wozniacki didn’t really let her.
By the middle of the second set, Wozniacki was in such cruise control that commentators took to discussing the paparazzi that she has to worry about, and whether she has a boyfriend. (Rumor has it she does, and there are three possible candidates. Their words, not mine.)
Unless you’re Stella McCartney, you can skip this paragraph. Dear Stella: I don’t mean to pile on, but what did Wozniacki ever do to upset you? Her new Adidas tennis dress isn’t worthy of you or her. Some of your previous designs perhaps better suited your previous model/player, Maria Kirilenko. This design suits no one. You’re dressing a cute 20-year-old in great shape—she’s an elite athlete! You can do better.
Unflattering tennis kits aside, King’s loss leaves the women’s singles draw with one American, Venus Williams. It also puts Wozniacki into the third round of a Slam for the 13th consecutive time. The writers who already have their gleefully-written Wozniacki obituaries at the ready will have to wait for at least another round, where Wozniacki may play Dominika Cibulkova, who beat her just last week.
—Bobby Chintapalli