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Aleksandra Wozniak loses to Li Na at Indian Wells, but gets wild card into the Sony Open in Miami
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – The conditions at the BNP Paribas Open Tuesday weren’t exactly what you would hope for as a player when you get to face the world No. 2 and reigning Australian Open champion in a big night match at a big tournament.
The desert night air cast a chill over a stadium court was empty even with an announced night-session crowd of over 14,000.
China’s Li Na was visibly uncomfortable with the conditions. But Montreal’s Aleksandra Wozniak couldn’t take advantage.
On her 11th match point, the top seed in the women’s tournament finally converted a 6-1, 6-4 victory that put her into the quarterfinals.
“The funny thing is beginning of the game I was feeling tight, nervous, and then I was feeling like. what's going on? Why can't I finish the match?” Li said. “But, how do you say, she never give up so she try to defend every point. Yeah. It's a little bit tedious in the last game.”
Wozniak, who came in with a WTA Tour ranking of No. 241, leaves with $52,000 in prize money, 120 WTA Tour points and has made up about 60 spots in the rankings.
She also upset a pair of top-25 players in Sabine Lisicki and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
That’s a solid week’s work.
And, with Tennis Canada having secured a wild card for the main draw at the similar-sized tournament in Miami next week for her, in exchange for one at the Rogers Cup in Montreal this summer, Wozniak has a chance to continue on her roll.
Against Li, Wozniak was outclassed at first before eventually making some inroads into some of the rallies.
"In the first set, she put so much pressure on her shots that she had me on my heels. In the second set I had a 3-0 lead quickly, started playing better,” Wozniak said. “Her ball was quicker but deeper, it comes through the court a lot more than some other girls, and it’s a different style of play than the girls I competed against this week. I feel like it’s even more pressure she puts on.”
Li made it more complicated than it might have been at the end.
She led 6-1, 5-4 and 40-love before things got tight.
The Chinese veteran coughed up match point Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 7 on double faults.
And she even argued far too long about whether a point that was to be replayed on a successful challenge should have been a winner outright, and therefore her point.
It spoke to her slightly agitated of mind, if nothing else.
“It was dramatic because she kept challenging, the game lasted 20 minutes, they told me,” Wozniak said.
Wozniak had entered tournaments in Monterrey and Charleston, in case she didn’t get into Miami. But now, it’s possible she won’t play them – certainly not both of them – with Fed Cup in Quebec City against the Slovak Republic looming in April.
“I haven’t played four tournaments in a row, with my shoulder. But it feels fine,” she said. “But what’s positive is that I’m back at this level, and will continue to improve, coming forward more towards the ball.”
