Wozniak reaches final of Bank on the West Classic
Injury to Serena Williams allows Blainville, Que., native to advance
Last Updated: Saturday, July 19, 2008 | 7:10 PM ET
CBC Sports
Aleksandra Wozniak advanced to her second career final on Saturday. (Ben Margot/Associated Press)Aleksandra Wozniak, of Blainville, Que., has advanced to Sunday's final of the Bank on the West Classic in Stanford, California after Serena Williams injured her left knee and pulled out of their semifinal match.
"It's unfortunate that she pulled out," Wozniak said. "I think in the middle of the first set she started looking at her leg. I didn't know if it was her ankle bothering her, but at the end it was her knee."
Williams left the match in the second set against 85th-ranked Wozniak. She had called for her trainer to have her knee taped during the first set of the match.
She returned to lose the set, and appeared to struggle when attempting to plant her left leg.
Trailing 5-2 in the second set, Williams stretched for a backhand in the fifth game, and appeared to injure the knee further. She walked off the court and hugged her father, Richard.
"I actually thought it felt better once I got it wrapped," Williams said. "But Wozniak kept moving me. I was hoping she wouldn't but I guess she knew better. That didn't help at all."
Wozniak now moves on to Sunday's final against the winner of Saturday's match between Marion Bartoli and Ai Sugiyama.
The top-seeded Williams became the third singles player on the U.S. Olympic women's tennis team with a knee injury. Williams' sister Venus and Lindsay Davenport have both pulled out of next week's East West Bank Classic in Carson, California with injured right knees.
"I do plan on obviously being at the Olympics," she said. "That's my main goal."
Williams has a history of knee problems. She had surgery on the joint in 2003, then missed 10 tournaments in 2006 after an injury to the knee.
It was an unfortunate but welcome break for Wozniak, who needed three wins in the qualifying tournament just to make it into the main draw. She then beat eighth-seeded Francesca Schiavone in three sets before knocking off Sybille Bammer and Samantha Stosur to make it to the semifinals.
"I'm really happy with the way I played this week — coming out of the qualifying is not easy," Wozniak said. "It's a lot of matches in one week."
Sunday will represent Wozniak's second career final. The other was a lower-tiered championship match in Morocco last year. As a result, she could possibly achieve her personal goal of being a top 50 player by next week.
With files from the Associated Press
