On song as a top 10 hit

April 2009 | Ross Hudson

Caroline WozniackiA few weeks short of her 18th birthday and the phrase 'a star is born" seemed apt when the amicable Caroline Wozniacki walked into her second round post-match press conference at 2008 Eastbourne.

And Wozniacki has proved that by breaking into the world's top 10 for the first time after she finished runner-up to Dinara Safina at the Madrid Open in mid-May 2009.

Step back a little over a year ago and
at Devonshire Park, the Danish ace was world ranked no32 but had just thrashed top seed and world no4 Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-2, 6-2. Obviously the great Dane showed bite and was destined for better things and said at the time: "She's definitely the best player I've beaten so far!"

At the press conference cameras flashed non-stop as the room buzzed with the possibility that "the next big thing" had begun her rise to the top at the English seaside resort. The comparisons between the tall, blonde Dane with the hard-hitting game and Russian icon Maria Sharapova were inevitable.

Her star continued to rise post-Wimbledon, and the former Junior Wimbledon champion is expected to be a major threat to seeded players at Eastbourne for the highly anticipated 2009 AEGON International.

caroline wozniackiAlthough Wozniacki's official website claims that hardcourts are her favourite surface, she said: "My game's suited to all quick surfaces, I like the flat game on grass. My shots are flatter than most as I do not use much topspin."

But Wozniacki failed to make the impact expected of her at Devonshire Park, ousted at the quarter-final stage by tenacious Australian Samantha Stosur.

But the teenager swiftly bounced back and claimed her inaugural WTA Tour title in Stockholm within a month of her disappointment at 2008 Eastbourne. She followed this confidence-boosting triumph by outclassing Daniela Hantuchova at the Olympic Games before being stopped in her tracks by eventual gold medallist Elena Dementieva.

The Danish newcomer won a second WTA Tour title in August at New Haven, Connecticut - the traditional tune-up event before the US Open - and raced to the fourth round at Flushing Meadow. But there she bowed out in four sets to eventual runner-up Jelena Jankovic, who had also ended her progress at Wimbledon.

caroline wozniackiA sign of her burgeoning star quality saw Wozniacki invited to close the Nasdaq Stock Market in New York, following in the footsteps of Sharapova.

After the US Open, Wozniacki romped to victory at the Japan Open and finished runner-up at the Luxembourg Open to climb to a career high ranking of world no12 in her real breakthrough season of 2008.

And the Monte Carlo resident can be seen singing on YouTube.com, which indicates that she has chosen the right career path by following in the footsteps of her athletic family, and is coached by her father Piotr - a former professional soccer player.

At the 2009 Sydney Open, she fluffed three match points to world no1 Serena Williams, and was so distraught at bowing out that she was blown aside in the third round of the Australian Open by home favourite Jelena Dokic.

But since she arrived for her Eastbourne debut just outside the world's top 30, the great Dane has steadily moved up the ranking to her all time high of world no10 and is expected to break into the top five by the end of 2010 Eastbourne.

Her impressive run at the 2009 Madrid Open in Spain, where she wilted in the final to world no1 Safina, propelled her into the top 10 for the first time and now gives Wozniacki the confidence to keep climbing. But she will have to step up a gear against the big guns, and she has yet to beat players such as Venus Williams, Nadia Petrova and the two Eastbourne-bound Serbians of Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic.

I like the flat game on grass, my shots are flatter than most as I do not use much topspin

- Caroline Wozniacki