Wozniacki ousted by Ukrainian; Dementieva follows same fate in Madrid

World No.2 Caroline Wozniacki's clay court struggles continued in Madrid on Tuesday, as she lost to Alona Bondarenko in straight sets in the second round of the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open.

Wozniacki had a strong start to the clay court season in America, winning Ponte Vedra Beach and reaching the semifinals of Charleston; but an ankle injury suffered there in the semifinals, which forced her to retire from the match, seems to have shaken her results, as she has now lost second round in all of her European clay court stops: Stuttgart, Rome and now Madrid.

"I'm disappointed. I would have loved to win today. I'll go back on the practice courts tomorrow and start working my butt off, and the results will come back," Wozniacki said. "I've started feeling better with my ankle, now I just need to get back in shape and feel good again on the court. The French Open, that's the goal at the moment." Highlights: Bondarenko vs. Wozniacki

Bondarenko, who broke Wozniacki five times in a one-hour, 19-minute, 62 63 victory, got the biggest win of her career, her best previous win coming against a No.4-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova in Warsaw two years ago. She now has three Top 5 wins and seven Top 10 wins. The Ukrainian No.1 also made noise in Madrid last year, ousting Kuznetsova en route to the quarterfinals; perhaps a good omen for Wozniacki is that Kuznetsova went on to win the French Open.

No.6 seed Elena Dementieva was also sent to the sidelines, falling to Romanian talent Alexandra Dulgheru, 61 36 75. Dementieva ground her way back from losing the first set, taking the second set and building a 5-3 lead in the third set, but in the end was outdone by Dulgheru, who picked up her second Top 10 win. Her first came just last week against Dinara Safina.


Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Singles - Second Round
Alona Bondarenko (UKR) d. (2) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 62 63
Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) d. (6) Elena Dementieva (RUS) 61 36 75
(8) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) 76(2) 64
Patty Schnyder (SUI) d. (9) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 36 64 64
Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) d. (12) Marion Bartoli (FRA) 62 60
(13) Li Na (CHN) d. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 62 36 75
Andrea Petkovic (GER) d. (14) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 76(3) 63
(16) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 62 75
Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 76(4) 60
Aravane Rezai (FRA) d. (Q) Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 63 75
Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. Olga Govortsova (BLR) 46 62 75