Caroline Wozniacki wins second consecutive New Haven title

Wozniacki wins second consecutive Pilot Pen

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Caroline Wozniacki believes this is her time.

The 19-year-old from Denmark won her second consecutive Pilot Pen tennis championship Saturday beating Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-4 in the final tuneup for the U.S. Open.

It was her sixth tournament title, third this year, and made her the first back-to-back champion in New Haven since Venus Williams in 2001-2002.

She did not drop a single set in her five matches this week.

“Now it’s my time,” she said. “It’s my turn to win some tournaments. I just feel I’ve had a great year. I’m so happy that it’s my name coming up a lot of times now.”

Wozniacki broke Vesnina’s serve on the match’s first game, and didn’t look back, winning in 1 hour, 16 minutes.

The 23-year-old Russian was making just her second appearance in a final. She appeared to have a chance when she broke Wosniacki to even the second set at 3-3. But Wosniacki broke right back, and went on for the straight-set win.

“I don’t do any excuses for today because Caroline, she was too good for me today,” Vesnina said. “I was doing a lot of unforced errors. Caroline, she’s a very good defending player.”

Wozniacki was unseeded when she won here a year ago. This year, she came ranked No. 9 in the world and seeded second.

“It’s really surprised me how fast everything has been going and that I’m right now 8 or 9 in the world,” she said. “That’s just amazing at age of 19, being one of the youngest players out there. Yeah, I mean, it’s what I’ve been working for so hard. I’m happy everything is going my way.”

Later Saturday, Sam Querrey was scheduled to play Fernando Verdasco in the men’s final.

Both played semifinal matches indoors Saturday morning because of rain that has plagued the area for two days. Verdasco of Spain beat Igor Andreev of Russia 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), while Querrey beat Argentina’s Jose Acasuso, 6-3, 6-4.

Verdasco and Andreev were tied 4-4 in the first tiebreaker before Verdasco won the last three points. In the second set, Verdasco fought off three set points in the 13th game to hold serve. Tied again 4-4 in the tiebreaker, Verdasco won three of the next four points to advance.

Querrey made the most of his big serve, hitting 11 aces. The American once knocked the numbers from the small hand-turned scoreboard in the corner of the court at Yale’s indoor Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center.

“I thought I served great,” he said. “I mean, I really wasn’t in trouble with my serve too many times. I thought I played a smart match.”

He broke Acasuso in the second game of the match, and broke again in the ninth game of the second set, prompting Acasuso’s racket-smashing outburst. Acasuso won just four points on Querrey’s serves in the second set.