By Chris Oddo | September 2, 2016
Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki advances to the round of 16 with a straight-sets win over Monica Niculescu.
Photo Source: AFP
Suddenly everything is coming up roses for Caroline Wozniacki in the Big Apple. The world No. 74—yes that actually is her ranking this week—eased past Monica Niculescu 6-3, 6-1 on Friday to book her spot in the round of 16 and set an enticing clash with American Madison Keys.
More: GIFs, tweets, celebrations and scores in the Day 5 U.S. Open Live Blog
Wozniacki, who owns a home in New York City, plays like she feels right at home here. Since falling behind Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-0 in the first set of their Day 3 encounter, Wozniacki has won 24 of 32 games.
“It feels great to be back here,” the 2009 and 2014 runner-up said on Friday. “It feels like my back garden and everything feels so familiar and everybody is so friendly and so nice. You know, all these things help you just play better, as well, when you feel welcome at a place.”
Keys, who engineered a comeback victory over Naomi Osaka on Day 5 to reach the round of 16 at a major for the sixth consecutive time, is ready to face Wozniacki for the first time and knows the challenge will be great. “I feel like we’ve both been around for some time, it’s funny that we’ve never played each other—we haven’t even really ever practiced together,” Keys said. “But I know her well. She’s obviously playing well. She had kind of a rough beginning of the year so it’s nice to see that she’s doing well here.”
Wozniacki a former world No. 1 for 67 weeks, has seen better days in terms of ranking, but she’s not worried about that here in New York. “I'm not that worried about the ranking at this point,” she said. “I'm just happy to be healthy and back playing. It's been a rough year because I haven't been able to catch a break from injuries basically. Every time I have come back something else has been hurting. Knock on wood, right now I'm feeling good. Everything is feeling good.”
In other action on a busy Day 5 in New York, No. 14 seed Petra Kvitova eased past No. 22 seed Elina Svitolina in straight sets. Lesia Tsurenko of the Ukraine reached the second week of a major for the first time with a three-set victory over No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova, and will face seventh-seeded Roberta Vinci in the fourth round.
Vinci, a runner-up last year in New York, pushed past Germany’s Carina Witthoeft in three sets. No. 13-seeded Johanna Konta and unseeded Anastasija Sevastova were also winners.