Early in the second set Caroline Wozniacki got out of her chair, walked to the service line and waited. The changeover was over, but ‘I’m Too Sexy’ played on until chair umpire Lynn Welch requested that it be turned off. If the DJ wasn't into the match, he wasn’t the only one. A game later Lindsay Davenport, commentating the match, passed time by tweeting a picture of her son snuggling with the family dog. The picture was adorable—it’s just that it started off as that kind of match.
It ended up being watchable overall, with Wozniacki winning the last point and the match, 6-1, 7-6 (7).
When few players on their good days are beating Wozniacki, it looked like Daniela Hantuchova, on what looked like a very bad day, wouldn’t get close. In the first set she didn’t. The unforced error stat that flashed on the screen during the fourth game said it all—Wozniacki had made none, Hantuchova eight. These weren’t the type of errors that make fans debate the meaning of “unforced,” or the type offset by tons of winners. These were balls hit way too wide or into the net, often for no reason.
The second set, more than three times longer than the first, was a significant improvement. Hantuchova showed up to play, serving better, making fewer errors and hitting more winners to compensate for those she did. Wozniacki, unlike in some matches this year, stayed in her comfort zone: She defended head-shakingly well—the woman practically ran into the umpire's chair while chasing down a drop shot, yet managed to hit a winner—until she got a chance to take the offense. She didn’t hit as many winners as Hantuchova (36), though she did hit quite a few (19). She kept her error count lower than that, with 16, which was way lower than Hantuchova’s 54. Wozniacki wasn’t playing her best toward the end of the set, but it was high-quality tennis. For one thing, both held serve all the way to the tiebreak, which Wozniacki prevailed in after 16 back-and-forth points (including a Hantuchova set point after she held two in an earlier game).
While there’s a reason they play, most expected Wozniacki to win from the start. In her three other Miami appearances, she’s lost to Grand Slam singles title winners (Venus Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Justine Henin). The Dane now owns 14 WTA singles titles. Among active players, only four have won more, and they’ve won Slams; in fact, three Slam winners have fewer titles than Wozniacki. The now-retired Elena Dementieva, considered by many to be the best player never to have won a Slam, ended her career with only two more singles titles than Wozniacki has now. Does that make Wozniacki the current best never?
I don’t know, but I have made my decision about something more important—the dress. I like this latest creation from Stella McCartney. It fits Wozniacki well, and the color looks nice on her.
Next up for the dress and the No. 1 is Andrea Petkovic. We know she can dance, but after that match... will she?
—Bobby Chintapalli