WTA - New Haven: Maria Kirilenko into the Finals, after Caro Wozniacki retired at the end of the 1st set
The No.7-seeded Kirilenko, who had never beaten Wozniacki in five previous tries, played clean, aggressive tennis to stay on serve with Wozniacki until 5-all, then got the first break of the match to lead 6-5 and held at 15 in the next game to take the set, 7-5. That would be the end, however, as her No.3-seeded opponent was subsequently forced to retire due to a right knee injury.
“In the past I had the same problem; sometimes you’re moving fine, but some steps it really hurts,” Kirilenko said. “When I’d play a good angle today I saw she didn’t run for it. She was for sure having problems - and I think she made the right decision to stop playing today and rest her knee before the US Open.”
“I could feel it from the start, and it started to get a bit worse,” Wozniacki said afterwards. “I decided to stop because if you don’t feel 100%, you can’t compete at 100%. I wasn’t going to win this match anyway if I’m not 100% at a fit level.”
Wozniacki had been 20-0 at the tournament. “It’s definitely not the way I would have liked to finish here, having won four times. This event has meant a lot to me. It was a big tournament for me to win back in 2008, then coming back and defending it in 2009 was huge, because it was the first time I had to go and defend a title. Then to defend it again and again, all of a sudden you’re in this elite group that has won the same tournament four times. There are a lot of players who never win a title, and a lot of players who never win four titles.
“What happened this year was unfortunate, but I just need to move on.”
