Caroline Wozniacki faced a tough middle-round opponent at Roland Garros 2017 on Sunday. Heading into the fourth round at the event, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia was considered to be among the favorites at the 2017 french open while Wozniacki was considered to be one of the peripheral favorites. However, it's the Dane that is through to the quarterfinals while the 2009 French Open champion will be watching from the sidelines. Wozniacki advanced in a three-set contest 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.
Wozniacki, a former No. 1 player
Wozniacki, seeded 11th at Roland Garros, will turn 27 years old later this summer.
She remains one of a trio of players to have held the No. 1 ranking at some point in her career and yet to have never won a Grand Slam (the others are Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic). However, unlike the other players that share the criteria, Wozniacki is still in the prime years of her career. With three more victories in the Roland Garros draw in the week ahead she will no longer be in the unflattering category of 'underachieving' No. 1 players.
Looking forward, Wozniacki's next opponent remains unknown at time of writing but it can be no one more proven than Samantha Stosur, a one-time finalist at the French Open. Wozniacki played in an early match on Sunday and she is a round ahead of everyone at the moment.
In fact, thanks to rain delays, at the time Wozniacki advanced to the quarterfinals through Kuznetsova there were two players still involved in a round-of-32 tussle.
Stosur will be tough
Stosur will surely be a tough out, but she'll have to survive Jelena Ostapenko first. Other players still alive on Wozniacki's side of the draw are Garbine Muguruza, Kristina Mladenovic, Venus Williams, and Timea Bacsinszky.
That quartet of players compose the final four in the 2nd quarter and one of them would face Wozniacki should the Dane make the Roland Garros semifinals. Muguruza is the defending champion this season while Mladenovic is enjoying an excellent year to date on the women's tour.
In numerous previous appearances at the French Open, Wozniacki has just one appearance in the tournament's quarterfinal and that was a loss way back in the 2010 tournament.
She'll be looking for her first appearance in the clay-court Slams semifinals and maybe a spot in the final as well. This could be the Grand Slam that Wozniacki has been waiting for all these years as she looks to get her teeth into her first major trophy.