So now we know, and the answer is ‘no’. No, Caroline Wozniacki will not win her first Grand Slam title in Paris. The world No. 1, who won one game in today’s first set and didn’t hit one winner until the second, lost to No. 28 seed Daniela Hantuchova, 6-1, 6-3, in the third round.
Hantuchova was on, very on, from the very start. Still, the question became whether she could keep her level up and a meltdown away. Her convincing, 73-minute victory answered that question, resoundingly so.
It’s the biggest upset of the French Open so far, and it means the biggest question on the women’s side is now this one: Can Maria Sharapova win a career Slam?
But back to this match. Things started well for Hantuchova, who in a quick first set hit 15 winners and made only six errors. She attacked off both sides, making Wozniacki look a bit flat, sometimes confused and certainly more defensive than usual, which is saying something. We know Hantuchova can play, but today, deliberate and composed as ever, she played better than she has in a while. Tennis Channel’s Lindsay Davenport called it “the best set of tennis I have ever seen her play.”
By the second set, Davenport, like anyone who knows anything about Hantuchova, asked if she could maintain that level. She did. If the score was less one-sided, it’s because Wozniacki put up more of a fight in the second set, hitting nine winners and breaking serve once. It took her three chances to do so, as Hantuchova saved the first two break points with aces. (After the first, Wozniacki turned and raised her hands, more helplessly than defiantly, I thought; this is the image I’ll think of when I think of this match.) When Wozniacki finally broke, it was on a controversial point. She got to a ball at net that looked like it may have been a double bounce (I couldn’t tell for sure, but it was close). Hantuchova questioned it, but Wozniacki got the point.
You’ve likely heard that Wozniacki has won more singles matches and titles than anyone this year. After this match you’ll hear all those not-so-nice stats. The only top seed to lose at Roland Garros earlier than Wozniacki was Justine Henin, in 2004. It’s the first time in the Open Era that neither of the top two seeded women has made the last 16 at a Slam. And you’ll certainly hear more questions, which grow louder after every Slam and every week of Wozniacki’s reign as No. 1. For instance, must she be better to win the four best titles? This match suggests she must. At the same time, the only way for Wozniacki—or any player, really—to show she can win a Slam is to win a Slam. Funny how that works.
As for Hantuchova, she won her first match against Wozniacki in four attempts and her first against a world No. 1 in seven attempts. This is the only Slam at which she hasn’t reached the quarterfinals. If she does this year, she’ll overtake Dominika Cibulkova as the top-ranked player from the Slovak Republic. Of course, getting to the quarterfinals means getting past the next round, where Hantuchova will play Svetlana Kuznetsova, a woman who knows a thing (or two, actually) about winning a Slam.
—Bobby Chintapalli