Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark placed an explanation mark Monday on her newly acquired World No. 1 ranking by winning the championship at the China Open in Beijing over No. 4 ranked Vera Zvonareva of Russia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
The victory was sweet revenge for the top-seeded blonde Dane, who lost to second seed Zvonareva in the semi-finals at the US Open a month ago.
The two delighted the crowd with ferocious baseline rallies throughout the two-hour match which was postponed from Sunday because of rain. Wozniacki was a little tentative at the start of the match but stormed back to reel off five games and take the first set.
Zvonareva then took charge, forcing a third set on a chilly night. But Wozniacki stepped it up a notch, painting the lines with blistering backhands to build an early 3-0 lead that she would never surrender.
2009 US Open finalist Wozniacki is now 12-7 in WTA singles finals; she won last week at Tokyo, and at New Haven, Montreal, Copenhagen, and Ponte Vedra Beach this year, and reached the Indian Wells final. Wozniacki has a 59-15 singles match record this season, and is 29-2 during the post-Wimbledon hard court season.
2010 US Open and Wimbledon finalist Zvonareva is now 10-16 in WTA singles finals; after she won at Indian Wells last year she tore ankle ligaments at Charleston, and had surgery to remove scar tissue in November. In January at the Australian Open Zvonareva said it would still take a while before her ankle was fully healed; now she is 100%. Vera has a 46-17 match record this year.
Wozniacki and Zvonareva are now tied 3-3 in career matches. Both will rise to new career highs in Monday’s WTA rankings, Wozniacki at #1 and Zvonareva at #3.
