NEW YORK, NY, USA - The upset-ridden top half of the draw progressed into the quarterfinals on Monday, with Caroline Wozniacki and a trio of unseeded players moving into the round of eight at the year's final Grand Slam.
Wozniacki, the No.9 seed, pulled off a minor upset over No.6 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in a thriller of a night match, rallying back from a first set blowout and surviving some tense moments to prevail, 26 76(5) 76(3). The world No.8 held match points at 5-4 and 6-5 in the third set but Kuznetsova staved them both off with winners; on the third she netted a forehand.
"I hit too many unforced errors and I couldn't control my emotions. And I wanted it so much, so it was pretty hard to control," Kuznetsova said. "All credit to her. But you can't win against anybody with those errors. No chance."
Wozniacki was the highest-ranked player never to have reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal; now world No.18 Virginie Razzano holds that distinction.
"I beat Svetlana, who is No.6 in the world, and now I'm in my first Grand Slam quarterfinal, so it feels amazing," said Wozniacki, who has now won nine matches in a row, five to win the warm-up event in New Haven and four so far here. "I just kept hanging in there. I stepped into the court a bit more in the second set and put more pressure on her. I'm really happy with this win."
Next up for Wozniacki will be someone who is no stranger to the big upset, American starlet Melanie Oudin, who beat her third straight seeded player in the daytime, No.13 seed Nadia Petrova, 16 76(2) 63. Oudin had taken out No.4 seed Elena Dementieva and No.29 seed Maria Sharapova the two rounds prior but this time found herself closest to defeat, as Petrova served at 61 43, 40-15. That's when the tides turned completely, however.
"The crowd really, really supported me and helped me through that game," Oudin said of the 61 43 game. "Once I got to 4-all I knew it was going to be tight and close, but I had been in that situation in earlier matches.
"Today there were no tears because I believed I could do it. Now I know I belong here. This is what I want to do and I can compete with these girls no matter who I'm playing. I have a chance against anyone."
Getting to Know... Melanie Oudin
"I didn't finish the job. At 4-3 and 40-15, I went for my shot down the line that missed. Then the next point was a long rally and she came up with an unbelievable winner down the line," Petrova said. "Winning that game gave her a second breath. She realized she was back in the game. And after winning previous matches pretty much in the same way, she thought she could do it."
In perhaps one of the most unlikely Grand Slam quarterfinal match-ups in recent memory, unseeded players Yanina Wickmayer and Kateryna Bondarenko will meet. Wickmayer edged Petra Kvitova, 46 64 75, while Bondarenko steamrolled Gisela Dulko, 60 60. Bondarenko had never been past the third round of a major before; Wickmayer had never been past the second round.
Getting to Know... Yanina Wickmayer
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