Venus Williams Beat Caroline Wozniacki To Bag The ASB Classic Title
Venus Williams defeated the top seed Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 after the two made it safely through the quarter-finals and faced each other at the final of the ASB Classic tournament.
Wozniacki tailed the American wildcard Taylor Townsend before she immerged victorious by 6-1, 7-6, (7-4). Williams on the other hand was able to pick up some speed as she successfully getting past Japan's Kurumi Nara by 6-4, 6-1.
According to Williams, while she played really good, she thought Taylor did too. She further stated that she was a bit lucky when she got the set points. Most importantly, she was grateful to be given the chance to get another match like what she just had with Taylor.
The match between Williams and Nara was also very thrilling. Both players had problems relating to service but the 34-year-old played out really well. According to Williams, she was able to beat Nara because she thought she was able to get a grip on her bearings a little bit. Understanding how Nara plays considering Williams haven't played with the Japanese that often yet helped Williams win the game.
During the finals, due to a series of errors by Williams, Wozniacki dominated the first set. At first, Wozniacki broke into the second set with a good start but Williams gained her momentum from the middle of the set with powerful forehand groundstrokes and accurate serve. In the third set, Williams assumed the upper hand and broke Wozniacki.
"Caroline and I were training next to each other in Florida recently and I saw how hard she works," Williams said. "She'd do half an hour of fitness work before she even started training and I thought 'I should be doing that'...but I didn't. I knew it would be a tough match."
ASB Classic is the first tournament of Venus Williams since September. Thus far, her head-to-head record against Wozniacki improved to 6-1.
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