No. 1 seed Wozniacki tops Kuznetsova

The world's No. 1 player and the Open's No. 1 seed kept her hopes alive for a first Grand Slam last night.

Caroline Wozniacki, winner of six tournaments this year but yet to win a major, outlasted Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-1, at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Wozniacki beat Kuznetsova in three sets with two tiebreakers in 2009 on her way to the U.S. Open final, which she lost to Kim Clijsters. That's still Wozniacki's only appearance in a major final.

Last night, she ran down every ball, dug out every shot, fought for every point in a match that lasted 3:02. She won by not giving in when Kuznetsova appeared to hold the match on her racket in the second set. Then she took the air out of Kuznetsova in the decider, though it took her five match points to win it.

After going down 4-1 in the second set, Wozniacki said, "I can do this. I just have to keep playing for every point."

Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open and 2009 French Open champion, is a mercurial player, but when she gets traction, she's difficult to beat.

There were three breaks of serve on either side, with Wozniacki staying back and Kuznetsova moving in. The first set might never have gone to a tiebreak except for unforced errors by Kuznetsova. In the tiebreak, Wozniacki ran the score to 5-2, but Kuznetsova won the next four points and took the set when Wozniacki returned a serve long.

When Kuznetsova jumped out to a 3-0 lead at the start of the second set, coming up with big winners, it looked as if she would serve it out. But fitness was becoming an issue. Wozniacki never seems to run out of gas. She might run out of shots, but not energy. And she put her foot down, eroding Kuznetsova's conditioning and her lead.

In a day match, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was too much for Francesca Schiavone, who fell 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.