Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki has captured the women’s tennis No. 1 ranking, replacing Serena Williams.
Wozniacki accomplished the feat with a 6-3, 6-2 win yesterday over Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic at the China Open in Beijing.
The rise to No. 1 comes in a season when Wozniacki reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and the US Open semifinals.
Wozniacki has 11 career tour singles titles under her belt and is the top seed in Beijing.
Williams pulled out of Beijing due to injury
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun suffered a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 defeat at the hands of Spain’s David Ferrer, the eighth seed. Ferrer will face Soderling in the quarter-finals.
Lu fared better in the men’s doubles quarter-final, when he and his partner Florian Mayer of Germany defeated China’s Gong Mao-xin and Li Zhe on their home turf in three sets.
Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and her partner Olga Govortsova of Belarus defeated Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 7-6, 6-2 in the women’s doubles quarter-finals.
In other second-round play, world No. 4 Andy Murray and two-time French Open finalist Robin Soderling survived second-round scares at the China Open yesterday as they moved one step closer to a semi-final showdown.
Murray, the second seed, struggled past Spain’s Albert Montanes in two hard-fought sets, 7-5, 6-3, in smoggy conditions so bad that organizers were forced to turn on the lights for the stadium court in the mid-afternoon.
The 23-year-old Scot showed some grit against Montanes, coming back from a break down in both sets. Murray served up nine aces during the match and sealed the victory with a service winner.
Soderling — who survived a scare from Spain’s Tommy Robredo in his first match — battled for nearly two hours to defeat another member of the game’s Spanish armada, Nicolas Almagro, in the second round, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
The 26-year-old Swede, ranked fifth in the world, but the third seed in Beijing because of the absence of dominant duo Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, used his powerful serve to get him out of several jams, bombing a total of 22 aces.
“When I’m serving well, I’m always playing well because it makes it easier to relax and play my game, especially in my return games,” Soderling told reporters.
The pair traded sets that hinged on just one service break each. In the decider, Almagro made a few unforced errors in the crucial sixth game that cost him dearly, allowing Soderling to go up 4-2 and eventually serve out the match.
On the women’s side, China’s Li Na, the ninth seed, trounced Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-2, 6-0 in just 48 minutes to earn her place in the quarter-finals at the Olympic Green Tennis Center, to the delight of the crowd.
JAPAN OPEN
AP, TOKYO
Top-ranked Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick cruised into the -quarter-finals of the Japan Open with straight-set victories yesterday.
Nadal, who has won three Grand Slam titles this year, beat Canada’s Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-4. Second-seeded Roddick downed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Nadal’s reward is to face Dmitry Tursunov of Russia in today’s quarterfinals.
“For me, I did the things that I needed to do with the serve and return,” Nadal said. “He is still very young. His serve is unbelievable, and there are things he can improve.”
Roddick, ranked 10th in the world, is playing his first ATP tournament since losing in the second round of the US Open. He served only five aces — to six for Chardy — but won 83 percent of his first serve points.
Roddick will play fifth-seeded Gael Monfils of France, who beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-4, 6-4. Monfils reached the semifinals here last year.
Viktor Troicki beat fifth-seeded Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (7), 3-6, 7-6 (3) for his first win over the Austrian, ranked world 13th. He now faces Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
The fourth quarterfinal pits Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen against Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
VENUS OUT
REUTERS, NEW YORK
A nagging knee injury has forced Venus Williams to skip the rest of the 2010 tennis season, including next month’s Fed Cup final between the US and Italy.
Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam winner, has been troubled by the problem since July when she was knocked out of the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
The world No. 3 has not played since last month’s US Open, where she lost in the semi-finals to the eventual champion Kim Clijsters.
She was to due to play this week’s China Open but withdrew because of her knee problems, raising doubts about her chances of playing in the Fed Cup final and the WTA Championships.
“I am very disappointed to announce that I will be unable to play in the season-ending WTA Championships and Fed Cup Final,” she said in a statement on Wednesday.
“I have been getting treatment and therapy on my knee and have been making progress but unfortunately must continue to keep weight off my knee for the short term and won’t be ready to return to competition in 2010,” she said.
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