By Lisa-Marie Burrows
World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki has been under constant criticism for being the top-ranked player without winning a major title and Tuesday at the Australian Open her scrutiny will continue as she lost to defending champion Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals 6-3, 7-6. To boot, she also lost the No. 1 ranking.
The 11th seeded Clijsters broke Wozniacki in the opening service game and showed no signs of being hampered by her ankle injury she suffered in the fourth round match against Li Na in a repeat of last year’s final. She looked in cruise control and snatched the first set 6-3.
Clijsters continued her dominance in the second set and rapidly progressed to a 5-2 lead — until Wozniacki switched gears and her fight back campaign began. Suddenly Clijsters allowed a few errors to creep into her game and appeared to lose full concentration as Wozniacki used her frustration with her game to play more aggressively in the second set.
The No. 1 seed pushed the competition to a crucial tie-break, but her dreams of collecting her first major title at the Australian Open ended there as Clijsters regrouped and saw off her rival 7-4 to seal the victory and prevent the match from being pushed to a deciding third set.
All is not lost for the young Dane having achieved the world No. 1 ranking position for 67 of the past 68 weeks and in time and with greater experience Wozniacki will always be a huge contender for a Grand Slam title if she continues to improve and remain healthy. Now the pressure will now be placed on the shoulders of Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, who will not only battle for the title Down Under, but for the No. 1 world ranking.
Clijsters will now meet No. 3 seed Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals after her comeback battle against No. 8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in three tough sets 6-7 (0-7), 6-0, 6-2.