Wozniacki crashes out, tells opponent: You won't go far
Caroline Wozniacki suffered fresh Wimbledon woe as the world No. 2 suffered a shock 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 defeat by Ekaterina Makarova in the second round yesterday morning (Singapore time) before telling the Russian: "You won't go far."
Wozniacki, plagued by an invasion of flying ants during the Court One clash, saved five match-points, but has now failed to get past the last 16 in 12 visits to the All England Club.
It was a bitter defeat for the 27-year-old Dane, who was expected to challenge for the title after winning her maiden Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open in January.
Wozniacki then told Makarova not to get too optimistic about making a deep run, despite the Russian winning the women's doubles title last year.
"I think she played above her level and really raised it and got a little lucky and played well when she needed to," sniffed Wozniacki, who had lost to the 30-year-old in the second round of last year's US Open.
Wozniacki had won all of their seven previous meetings up to that point.
"I don't know that she would be able to keep up this level for the rest of the tournament," she added.
World No. 35 Makarova, who next faces Czech world No. 66 Lucie Safarova, shrugged off Wozniacki's unflattering summary of her chances.
"I don't know what to say. Yeah, maybe I was lucky today. Good for me. Thanks God!" she told WTA Insider.
Flying ants also did their best to darken Wozniacki's mood.
The former world No. 1 asked the umpire if there was something that could be sprayed to keep the bugs away.
"They're in my mouth and in my hair and everywhere - we need to do something. Is there a spray?" she said.
"I want to be here to focus on tennis, not eating bugs."
Meanwhile, former champions Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic battled into the third round yesterday, but third seed and 2017 runner-up Marin Cilic crashed out.
World No. 1 Nadal defeated Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 and will next face Australian teenager Alex de Minaur.
Djokovic, the three-time champion, needed treatment on his left thigh on Court Two but still beat Argentina's Horacio Zeballos 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.
Cilic blew a two-set lead in his 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 loss to Argentina's Guido Pella, ranked at 82.
Women's top seed Simona Halep survived a first-set fright to reach the third round with a 7-5, 6-0 win over China's Zheng Saisai. - AFP
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