Five years after losing here to Kim Clijsters in her only slam final, the former world number one Caroline Wozniacki gets her second chance to win a major after a bizarre finish to her semi-final on Friday. The Dane, seeded 11 here, watched her distressed opponent Peng Shuai wheeled away from the fray in tears midway through the second set.
She will meet five-time champion Serena Williams who advanced to Sunday’s final with a straight-set win against Ekaterina Makarova and. The top-seeded Williams, 32, a two-time defending champion from the US, won 6-1, 6-3 against the 17th-seeded Russian at the National Tennis Center in New York. She will be seeking to capture her 18th Grand Slam singles title, tying Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for fourth on the women’s career list.
After the first semi-final, Wozniacki, who was leading 7-6, 4-3, with the ball in her hand ready to serve out the eighth game, expressed her concern for the unseeded Peng but was also thrilled to be in the final. “It’s incredible,” she said. “I’ve got goosebumps right now, five years since I’ve been in a final here.”
In muscle-sapping heat, the Chinese player, who has had a remarkable run in the tournament, stopped before receiving serve when trailing 3-4 in the second set after an hour and 53 minutes of a fairly even struggle and grabbed at her left leg. It seemed cramp had struck and she was rendered immobile when one point away from breaking back to level the scores.
She was helped from the court the first time to receive what tournament director David Brewer called “an off-court medical assessment”.
He explained: “When a player is in stress she is allowed to be evaluated by medical personnel. There is no time limit. You are allowed a reasonable amount of time.”
Nearly 20 minutes after the original delay, however, the chair umpire called a three-minute medical timeout, officiating at its most bizarre, because that ruling obviously did not apply.
Wozniacki was as confused as the spectators on a packed Arthur Ashe court, and filled in the break with some serving to keep her shoulder warm – not knowing, of course, if she would have to hit another shot to reach the final.
Peng, meanwhile, was in tears in the locker room, desperate to get back on court, and hobbled on after 10 minutes, clearly still upset, but encouraged by the sympathetic crowd, who cheered her loudly.
Wozniacki, who had shown admirable patience, duly served for deuce against her struggling opponent, only to dump her fifth double-fault for the set, her 10th of the match, into the net. If Peng could hang on, she had a chance of drawing level – but she suddenly dropped to her knees, sobbing. Staff brought two large bags of ice and a wheelchair.
“I feel sick to my stomach watching this,” John McEnroe said on CBS. Wozniacki, who earlier in the week won the WTA’s sportsmanship award, came around from her side of the court to commiserate with her stricken opponent.
Only then did Peng reluctantly to leave the battlefield – in a wheelchair – giving the match to Wozniacki.
“It was very difficult,” the Dane said. “You want to finish it off properly. I just feel sorry for Peng, who played really well out there. It was just unfortunate she fell ill and I hope she is OK. I’m feeling OK. I had two days off. I’m probably going to have an ice bath, chill, watch [the second semi-final] and eat some nice food.”
Peng (28) came into the semi-final on a golden run, having spent a little over six-and-a-half hours accounting for her five opponents – including the fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round – without dropping a set and for the loss of only 30 games.
The exchanged two breaks apiece in the first set and were similarly vulnerable in the second.
Guardian Service
