September 21, 2012 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo credit: Kenneth B. Goldberg
Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark defeated the seventh-seeded Klara Zakopalova 6-2, 6-3 on Friday at the 2012 KDB Korea Open to advance to the semifinals. Wozniacki’s first two appearances in Seoul didn’t go anywhere near as well as this year, falling first round in both 2006 and 2007. She was nowhere near the player she is now—she was ranked 292 as a qualifier in 2006 (losing to former world number one Martina Hingis) and was ranked 70th in the world in 2007 (losing to Eleni Daniilidou, who was the defending champion that year).
"When I qualified here in 2006, before they placed the qualifiers I was pretty sure it was going to be me playing Hingis—and it turned out to be me!" Wozniacki said. "I was very nervous going into the match. It was like there was no chance I was going to win, because I was so nervous playing against my role model."
Awaiting Wozniacki in the semifinals is eighth-seed Ekaterina Makarova, who defeated María José Martínez Sánchez, losing just 11 points in seven service games en route to a 6-1, 6-1 win over the Spaniard.
"This is my first time back here in Seoul since 2007," said Wozniacki. "Time goes quickly! But I’m happy to be here again. The tournament has changed a lot since then, but the people are as nice and polite as always and it’s really nice to be back."
