Caroline Wozniacki’s comeback to tennis and the US Open rolled this morning with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over American Jennifer Brady, another player making a return to the game after a yearslong absence.
The 33-year-old from Denmark raised her fists in the air and glanced over to her husband in the stands when she closed out the match to move into the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows in just her third tournament back after three and a half years in retirement.
“To actually be here in Arthur Ashe Stadium with all of you supporting me is a dream come true,” she said in her post-match interview. “What an honour this is.”
Wozniacki, who will play the winner of the match between No.6 Coco Gauff and 32nd-seeded Elise Mertens, said she won’t start thinking about that until after she spends some time celebrating with her two-year-old daughter Olivia and 10-month old son, James.
The former No.1 and 2018 Australian Open champion left the sport in early 2020 to start a family and later spent time working as a TV analyst. Now ranked 623rd, she needed a wild card to get into the US Open main draw and believes she still has what it takes to make a deep run.
Wozniacki’s opponent, Brady, is making her own return to the game after two years away from the tour with injuries, including a fracture in her right knee and a tear in her left foot.
Elsewhere, Kiwi Michael Venus had his US Open come to an end in the second round of the men's doubles after he and partner Jamie Murray fell in straight sets to Nicolas Mahut and Pierre Hugues.
Venus and Murray lost 6-4 6-4 to end their campaign with the duo unable to win any of the four break points they saw in the first set before the French duo shut them out clean in the second set.
- Additional reporting by the Associated Press
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