Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Wozniacki looks to improve on breakthrough year

HONG KONG (AP) -Caroline Wozniacki hopes to build on the gains made in the last two seasons and challenge for a major in 2010.

The 19-year-old from Denmark won three titles each in 2008 and 2009, culminating in a run to the U.S. Open final in September, where she lost to Kim Clijsters.

Heading into the Australian Open, the first major of the year, Wozniacki is ranked a career-high No. 4, behind Serena Williams and Russians Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova.


Wozniacki, who will play in the Hong Kong Tennis Classic this week, said she's eager to build on the results of the past two years.

"I think there are a lot of good players out there," she said. "I know also a lot of us young players are playing well. I think the generation is changing a little bit."

Wozniacki said she hopes to improve her ranking this year by at least one spot, but her biggest dream is to win Wimbledon, where she won the junior women's title in 2006.

"I like the grass. I like the tradition," Wozniacki said.

She has been particularly focused on a new fitness regime involving cardiovascular exercises, running and boxing, but she believes her game doesn't need any major tweaks.

"I think when you're at a high level, you just need to keep your game and improve small things. I just think it's important to keep the style of game I'm playing because it's been paying off," she said.

Wozniacki was somewhat injury-prone last year with a lower-back strain, hamstring injury and sore abdominal muscles. The abdominal injury forced her to pull out of the semifinal against Serena Williams at the WTA Tour's year-end championship in Doha in October.

She withdrew because of the hamstring injury during a first-round match in Luxembourg in October, despite being one game away from victory. It prompted WTA officials to investigate a surge in online betting during the match. Wozniacki has denied wrongdoing, and said Wednesday she simply couldn't play on.

"It's never nice to be accused of something like that especially because I was injured," she said. "There was nothing I could do. It's never fun, but I knew I didn't anything wrong."



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