World No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki and rising star Naomi Osaka became early round casualties while veteran Venus Williams survived a scare to book her third round spot at the Miami Open on Friday. Wozniacki slumped to a shock 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Monica Puig of Puerto Rico while Osaka's bid for the "Sunshine Double" of Indian Wells and Miami Open titles ended with a 6-4, 6-2 loss to fourth seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.
The 24-year-old Puig compared her win over reigning Australian Open champion Wozniacki to her gold medal triumph at the 2016 Rio Olympics. "It felt like Rio all over again," Puig said. "I have been waiting for this and to finally start finding myself again." The 27-year-old Wozniacki appeared to be headed to an easy victory after winning the first set in less than 30 minutes before the wheels fell off.
World number 82 Puig clinched the win with a blistering forehand winner on the second match point. "I just tried to stay positive," she said. "I didn't think I played that poorly in the first set. She's a great player so I had to stay focused and keep fighting." Puig became the first Puerto Rican athlete to win gold in any sport at the Olympics when she beat Germany's Angelique Kerber in the final.
It was another disappointing exit for Wozniacki, who finally silenced her critics earlier this year with her maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne, where she defeated Simona Halep in the final. Wozniacki drops to 17-5 on the season as she has now crashed out of her last two tournaments in stunning fashion. In her most recent WTA event in Indian Wells, Wozniacki was upset in the round of 16 by Russian dynamo Daria Kasatkina.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.