For some people, second place just isn't enough. Caroline Wozniacki seems to be one of those people - the Dane secured herself a return to the No.1 ranking at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Friday, beating Shahar Peer to move into the semifinals of the Premier event.
Wozniacki, the No.1 seed here, avenged a defeat to the Israeli from this very tournament last year with a routine 6-2 6-4 win. Peer had her chances - she actually had more break points during the match than Wozniacki (10 to 8) but the Dane hung on at those moments more tightly (Wozniacki was 6/8 on break points, Peer was 3/10). Wozniacki improved to 5-1 lifetime against Peer.
Next Monday, Wozniacki will begin her 19th career week as the No.1 player in the world, her first 18 coming between October 11, 2010 and February 13, 2011. On February 14, Kim Clijsters took No.1; it was short-lived, for now.
"I was very focused going into the match. I knew what I had to do," Wozniacki said. "Of course, it's nice to be back at No.1. It's a good feeling. Yeah, I gave Kim one week. Hopefully now I'll have it for a few more weeks.
"One of my best friends is here visiting with her family, so we're definitely going to have a nice dinner to celebrate, and then I'll prepare for tomorrow."
In the other three quarterfinal matches on Day 5 of the $2,050,000 tournament, No.4 seed Samantha Stosur lost to No.6 seed Jelena Jankovic 6-3 5-7 7-6(4), No.8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska lost No.16 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6(7) 6-3 and No.11 seed Flavia Pennetta took down No.15 seed Alisa Kleybanova 6-2 6-0.
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