Caroline Wozniacki is planning to run the New York marathon this year, although nothing will be as gruelling or energy-sapping as her cherished victory over Maria Sharapova last night.
As the clock ticked towards three hours in searing heat and humidity in New York, the Danish former world No 1 struck a superb backhand winner to seal her best grand-slam result for two years and reach the US Open quarter-finals.
It was an emotional Wozniacki who eventually triumphed over the five-time grand-slam winner 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. She will play Sara Errani, of Italy, for a place in the last four and on this aggressive evidence will be a force to reckoned with.
“I have had a great summer, it has been a bit up and down for me so to win against a champion like Maria is very special,” Wozniacki said. “My marathon training has helped me for sure, especially on days like this.”
The pair’s only previous meeting at a grand-slam championship came here in 2010, Wozniacki winning in straight sets before falling in the semi-finals. Wozniacki is yet to win a grand-slam, yet an encouraging summer has made her believe this could, finally, be her time.
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It was a real opportunity and one she grasped from the start. Sharapova began tentatively and, with Wozniacki playing the role of aggressor, the No 10 seed soared ahead and established a 3-0 lead with an early break. With the Russian attempting to stay in the set, she was broken again to allow Wozniacki to steal ahead.
Sharapova hit back with tremendous force in the second set, though. A double break put the No 5 seed in total control and, although she was unable to close out the set easily, a fiercely struck forehand took the match into a deciding set.
With the temperature rising, a ten-minute break was allowed, although on her return Sharapova was given a time violation, the umpire insisting that she took too long to return to court.
This is nothing new with Sharapova, of course. One only has to look back at this year’s French Open final, when, after more than two hours, the two-time Roland Garros champion was given a similar warning for a succession of time-wasting tactics.
Nevertheless, the decision angered the Russian. There was a real fire in her eyes now, the ball flying off her racket with a real ferocity.
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Indeed, as the deciding set began to unravel, Sharapova had hit 36 winners compared to the Dane’s 19.
Yet the key moment came in the fourth game, an incredible rally in which all had seemed lost for Wozniacki culminating in a superb running retrieval that her opponent volleyed into the net, handing her a break of serve.
Wozniacki’s celebration was wild, urging the New York crowd to rise up and salute her battling instincts, something they needed no encouragement to do.
The Dane continued to attack and, when Sharapova was broken again, a deserved victory was sealed before Sweet Caroline rang out.
Earlier, Gilles Simon sent David Ferrer, the No 4 seed, crashing to his earliest US Open defeat in five years with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory. Simon, of France, seeded No 26, capitalised on the 52 unforced errors of the 32-year-old Spaniard. Simon goes on to face Marin Cilic, of Croatia, who beat Kevin Anderson, the South African, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.