Wozniacki Eats Bugs, Joins Seeded Exodus at Wimbledon
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Rain curtailed play at the All England Club on Wednesday, but not before world No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki joined the record-setting seeded exodus at Wimbledon.
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The Dane was upset 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 by Russian Ekaterina Makarova, making for five of the Top 8 seeds out of the tournament after three days of play.
Compounding Wozniacki’s frustration was an invasion of flying ants during the match that saw insects flying in her ears and mouth during the competition.
“I want to focus on playing tennis and not eating bugs,” she said to the chair umpire at one point.
In the third set Makarova failed to serve out the match at 5-1 and 5-3 but eventually crossed the finish line.
“I told myself, ‘You’re not going to lose this — you’ve had so many match points,'” the Russian said afterwards.
Wozniacki is now left to mull a lost opportunity and prepare for the U.S. hardcourt season.
“It’s frustrating because I feel as though I could have gone on to do something great here,” said Wozniacki, who won the Eastbourne grasscourt title last week.
On a day of few other upsets, Lucie Safarova defeated No. 32 seed Aggie Radwanska 7-5, 6-4.
Wozniacki’s exit leaves No. 7 Karolina Pliskova as the only remaining Top 8 seed in the bottom half of the draw after Pliskova defeated former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-3.
Top 10-seeded winners Wednesday were No. 9 Venus Williams coming from a set down to beat Alexandra Dulgheru 4-6, 6-0, 6-1, and No. 10 Madison Keys beating Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum 6-4, 6-3.
“She played well in the first set, I have to give her credit,” Williams said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever played her before and it’s not easy to play someone you’ve never played. I’m sure she’s seen me play a lot! She was extremely competitive. It’s just about winning the match — if that’s your best or not, it doesn’t matter as long as you win.”
The elder Williams will next face No. 20 seed Kiki Bertens who was a 6-4, 6-0 winner over Russian teen Anna Blinkova. Keys in the third round will line up against 29-year-old Russian Evgeniya Rodina, who came back to beat Sorana Cirstea 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Other seeded winners were No. 13 Julia Goerges, No. 29 Mihaela Buzarnescu, and No. 25 Serena Williams who rolled qualifier Viktoriya Tomova 6-1, 6-4.
“It was better than my first round so I’m happy that I’m going in the right direction,” Serena told the BBC. “In my other match I didn’t move a lot but I’ve been moving a lot better since Paris, so that’s old news…Wimbledon did such a good thing with the seeding. It will be nice to see ladies live their life and not start having families at my age. These women can take a year off and have the most amazing thing in the world, then come back to their job and not have to start from the bottom, scrape, scrape, scrape. Still give them an opportunity to be out there after bringing life into the world. It’s so important.”
Serena in the third round will meet Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic who dismissed Tatjana Maria 6-2, 6-2.
Thursday’s matches to watch for at the All England Club are (22) Johanna Konta vs. Dominika Cibulkova, (17) Ashleigh Barty vs. Genie Bouchard, (26) Daria Gavrilova vs. Sam Stosur in an all-Aussie, Belinda Bencic vs. Alison Riske, and No. 1 Simona Halep vs. China’s 24-year-old Saisai Zheng.
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