It’s been a long time between drinks at the Australian Open for Caroline Wozniacki.
But seven years after her last appearance in the semifinals, the No.2 seed is back in the last four at Melbourne Park.
Wozniacki got there via an increasingly complicated 6-0 6-7(3) 6-2 victory over the resurgent Carla Suarez Navarro, sealing victory at 1.37am on Wednesday morning after a two-hour, 11-minute scrap.
And she has a golden opportunity to reach her first final in Melbourne when she lines up against the unseeded, unheralded Elise Mertens in Thursday’s semifinals.
"She's had an amazing start to the year, I think she's (practically) undefeated,” Wozniacki said of the Belgian. “It's going to be a tough one, but I'm excited for it. Another semifinal here – that’s exciting.”
Her match-up against Suarez Navarro had a throwback quality to it – these were two women getting back to their best. The Spaniard first reached the quarterfinal stage of the Australian Open back in 2009, and was two years removed from her last Grand Slam quarterfinal (also at Melbourne Park) and her peak ranking of No.6.
Wozniacki, despite returning to the top five last year, hadn’t been this deep at the Australian Open in six years. After reaching the last eight here in 2012 as the top seed and getting hit off the court by Kim Clijsters, she hadn’t come close to the same stage again.
Both were lucky to be alive at this year’s tournament. Wozniacki survived a massive scare – down 1-5 and match points in the third set – against Jana Fett in round two, while Suarez Navarro trailed Anett Kontaveit 6-4 4-1 in the last 16.
Yet both escaped, and were playing with the freedom that comes with a second chance.
The opening set was vintage Wozniacki. Content to rally all night, she only attacked on the right ball and kept her unforced error tally to a tidy minimum.
Suarez Navarro did her best to probe, force the play and change up her shots; she wasn’t playing badly. But she doesn’t have enough power to penetrate the court and truly trouble the Dane, despite producing her forehand on average 10km/h faster than Wozniacki’s.
Wozniacki banged a backhand winner up the line for 4-0, slotted an ace for 5-0, and, after a mini-struggle at deuce, dropped a bagel on the diminutive Spaniard after 34 minutes.
Suarez Navarro, currently ranked 39th, finally got on the board in the second game of the second set. And then she tipped the match on its head, breaking serve in the fifth game thanks to some aggressive play, and arriving at a break point for a 5-2 lead.
Yet Wozniacki clamped down, as per the manner of the first set, and refused to give anything cheaply. She escaped, and Suarez Navarro began to press; 4-2 was suddenly 4-4, and with a backhand winner up the line, the Dane held at love for a 5-4 lead.
When Suarez Navarro dumped a backhand into the net in the following game, Wozniacki had a match point. Yet her game broke down, and Suarez Navarro pounced, belting a winner to level at 5-5.
Having been gifted this lifeline, Suarez Navarro played an inspired tiebreak, unfurling four winners and sending the match into a third.
"She improved. She took the ball earlier. She made me step back behind the baseline a little bit, and that made the difference,” Wozniacki said.
“I stepped a little closer to the baseline in the third set, and it felt like I had a little bit more energy left than she did.”
Indeed, a despondent Wozniacki quickly regrouped, cranked up the aggression and broke serve in the third game. It was that aggression that helped deliver her a second service break and a 5-2 lead, an advantage she wouldn’t let slip this time around.
Suarez Navarro sprayed a backhand wide to deliver Wozniacki a bundle of match points in the eighth game. Two points later, the Dane was holding her arms aloft.
"I knew it (the match) wasn't going to be that easy (like the first set),” Wozniacki said. "In the second set I had the chance to close it out and I didn't do it, which I was very disappointed about.
“I'm just proud that I managed to stay cool and then finish it off in the third set.”