Sports

Caroline Wozniacki reacts to early US Open exit

236

Caroline Wozniacki was well beaten by Lesia Tsurenko on Thursday night as she crashed out of the US Open.

The second seed had seen her preparation for the tournament hampered by a right leg injury that forced her out of Washington and she failed to win a match in Montreal and Cincinnati before losing in the second round at Flushing Meadows.

Since winning the Australian Open at the start of the year, the world No. 2 has failed to go beyond the third round of a major this season, though she had no complaints about her defeat to the Ukrainian.

I think I started off pretty well, then I think I played well in parts of the first set, just trying to stay aggressive, she said after the 6-4 6-2 loss.

Tsurenko was in good form (Picture: AFP/Getty)

But she was playing smarter than me. She played the game that I was supposed to be playing. She got a lot of balls back.

Advertisement Advertisement

She played with the angles. She waited for the short ball. When the short ball came, she played aggressive. She went back and kept the ball in play when she had to.

I tried to play aggressive because I saw openings. I saw balls that I felt like I could finish off, I felt like I could hit big on. Yeah, the court is a little bit slower I think. I should have made better adjustments. I just didnt.

Then I was trying, you know, to play a little bit higher, maybe change the rhythm, but it just wasnt really going my way.

Tsurenko beat Wozniacki (Picture: AFP/Getty)

I think the problem also was my serve and returns werent great today. That kind of didnt help me. I feel like if maybe Id served better, I could have put more pressure on her.

The renovated Louis Armstrong court has taken a couple of victims in the early rounds, with world No. 1 Simona Halep also suffering a surprise loss on the new and improved arena.

And Wozniacki joked it may become a graveyard court.

I think its a great court, she added. Its a beautiful court, its nice.

Guess Wimbledon used to have a graveyard court. Maybe that is going to be the new graveyard court. I think its a little too early to tell.

Wozniacki reflected on her season as a whole (Picture: Getty)

Its definitely a nice court. Its intimate. Its definitely a cool court.

Advertisement Advertisement

Reflecting on her season as a whole, Wozniacki admitted she will always look back on 2018 fondly given her triumph in Melbourne, although suggested she was far from happy with other results throughout the year.

Im always going to say its a great season because I won my first major, she continued.

Ive won so many tournaments throughout my career, but Id never won a Grand Slam. I think regardless what happens for the last few tournaments of the year, its still going to be a great year because I won in Australia.

If I hadnt won in Australia, we would be talking differently. But I did. Im very proud of that. Its something that nobody can ever take away from me.