Oct. 7: Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki claimed the world number one ranking on Thursday when she breezed into the quarterfinals of the China Open, dethroning American tennis superstar Serena Williams.
The 20-year-old Wozniacki defeated the Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-2 in a third-round clash under the floodlights at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre in Beijing.
Wozniacki — the first from her country to reign supreme in the tennis world — will replace Serena, a 13-time Grand Slam winner, atop the WTA rankings when a new list is issued on Monday. She came into the tournament ranked second.
Williams was forced to withdraw from the China Open due to a nagging foot injury suffered shortly after she won her fourth Wimbledon crown in July.
The blonde Dane showed some early jitters, trading two breaks with Kvitova — who beat her in the round of 16 at Wimbledon this year — before finally taking the first set when the Czech dumped a forehand into the net. In the second set, Wozniacki — the top seed here — hit her stride, running the left-handed Kvitova from side to side and battering her with heavy topspin groundstrokes off both wings. She raised her arms in triumph after serving out the match, as Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” thundered out of the stadium sound system.
Wozniacki is the 20th player in WTA history to earn the top spot — and the 10th to do so before her 21st birthday. Of the women in that elite group, half are still active. Wozniacki earlier this week cited two members of the number one club — Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis — as her “idols” growing up. Serena has held the top spot for a total of 123 weeks in her career.