Caroline Wozniacki claimed her second Eastbourne title as she defeated Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka in the showpiece final 7-5 7-6(5).
Wozniacki actually was playing her second final in as many years, but had not been the last woman standing at this event since she won the event as an 18-year-old back in 2009, but with that being said, the Dane has always performed at a high level when appearing at the tournament in Eastbourne and this year was no exception.
The current Australian Open champion finished her previous match with considerable aplomb as she virtually did not give any shot away cheaply and remained very hard to beat in the deciding set of her semi-final win over Germany’s Angelique Kerber, but the Dane did start today’s final committing more errors than she is really used to.
After three breaks inside the first five games, where the quality of tennis was rather scratchy as both players attempted to adapt to the gusty conditions on offer, but it was Sabalenka her started to find the lines and really tested the movement and balance of Woznaicki from the baseline. The inexperienced, but fearless Belarusian held two set points on Wozniacki’s serve and served for the set herself at 5-4, but that is where Wozniacki started to raise her level and decided to step into her returns and really neutralise one of the biggest weapons in Sabalenka’s game as she won the next three games to steal the set. Just like in her previous match against Kerber, Wozniacki not only showed that she can go into lockdown mode and give nothing away, but she took her chances on the backhand side in key moments and really held it together.
There were another four breaks of serve to start the first six games of the second and in almost mirror image to the first set, Sabalenka found herself in the position of serving for the set for a second time at 5-4, but got broken to love almost immediately after and then it looked like Sabalenka’s chances of really making a big tussle of this contest was slowly going to drift away. It felt very much like it was an all-or-nothing strategy for Sabalenka, who produced some frightening and impressive winners and her forehand preparation is so difficult to predict that Wozniacki simply had to gamble and pick a side at times, because of the velocity of that shot and the unpredictability of it and that was what helped the Belarusian charge to a 5-4 lead in the tiebreak of the 2nd set, with two points on her own serve. The 20-year-old’s patterns of play really cost her dearly, though, as she sent two aggressive backhands wide of the mark and then the Dane claimed her 29th career title with a backhand down the line winner.
Wozniacki credited her coach and father Piotr after her 2nd title win on the grass and talked through her mentality when approaching these tournaments.
“I think every time I go into a tournament I believe I can win it. So every week I have that belief. Whether it happens or not, it just depends on how I play and how, you know, how my opponents play and how everything kind of goes together. But definitely every time I go into one I believe in myself.”
“I think my dad has been there since the start, and we have always worked great together. You know, he always has my back. I think, you know, I definitely wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t there helping me. You know, I think we’re a great team. You know, sometimes we play amazing; sometimes we play less good. But, you know, you take the good and the bad and you just try and keep improving and do better and figure out what the next steps are. You know, I think throughout my career I think we have done a great job.”
The Dane is supremely confident and has experienced somewhat of a resurgence in the last couple of years. The Grand Slam win that finally came at the Australian Open this year is something that has given Wozniacki that freedom on court now, but it has also been used in a positive light as confirmation that Wozniacki can go all the way in these big tournaments and potentially achieve more at the majors. This preparation in Eastbourne is ideal for her as she looks to ride the wave of momentum she has built this week and hopefully get past the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time in her career. The 31 match-wins she has built up in 2018 suggest that she might just do that this time around.
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