Still The One: Caroline Wozniacki Rolls Through Svetlana Kuznetsova To Win 2011 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship

Caroline Wozniacki, 2011 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship Winner

Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki did all she could do to bolster her credentials as the #1 ranked player in the world by tearing through the competition at the 2011 Dubai Duty Free Championship without losing a set, culminating in a 75-minute dismantling of former world #2 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, 6-3 6-1. Caroline broke Svetlana 7 times while dropping her own serve 3 times. But the most interesting fact from this match was that both players served over 75% first serve percentages, yet Svetlana only won 28% of her first serve points. The Russian star actually won a higher percentage of points on her second serve, 45%, than her first. With those kind of numbers, it’s a wonder that Kuznetsova held her serve at all in the match (she did once).

As for the question of who is #1, I hesitate to delve too deeply into that on a day where Caroline deserves to celebrated for her brilliant play. Let me just restate that I still believe it’s Kim Clijsters based on the winning the last two Grand Slams and the Tour Championship (beating Caroline in the final). Wozniacki did nothing to hurt herself this week. She took care of business in a way Clijsters did not in the Open GDF Suez final. But to me, the US Open, Australian Open and Doha made winning the Open GDF Suez unnecessary for Kim. Bottom line, we all know Caroline can win these kinds of tournaments. Can she win the big four? Until she does that, the question of who is really #1 will continue to persist.