Grand Slam Woes Continue for Wozniacki in Upset by 96th-Ranked Begu
Slowed by a right knee injury, eighth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki failed to make it out of the first round of her second straight Grand Slam tournament, falling 6-2, 6-2 to 96th-ranked Irina-Cameila Begu of Romania at the U.S. Open on Tuesday. Wozniacki was forced to retire against Maria Kirilenko after the first set of her semifinal match last Friday at the New Haven Open. Four days later, she was ousted from the U.S. Open, finishing the match with tape that trainers applied to her hurting knee during an injury timeout in the second set.
"You know, you always want to go in and do your best no matter what’s happening out there. I tried. I didn’t succeed to play well. I didn’t play particularly well, and made too many errors," said Wozniacki. "You know, it’s unfortunate because it’s a huge tournament, a tournament you want to play in."
Begu’s win over Wozniacki marked her first U.S. Open win. Wozniacki sprayed shots, notched 22 unforced errors and scored just four winners. Earlier this summer at Wimbledon, Wozniacki lost her first-round match to Tamira Paszek
"The year is not done yet," said Wozniacki. "Obviously, the Grand Slams this year have not been great for me. After the year is finished, you can evaluate and see what was good and wasn’t so good and work from there. I still have plenty of years in me. Hopefully, I can just turn it around and play even better."
