Carolina Wozniacki Upsets Serena Williams at 2012 Sony Ericsson Open

On a night in which balls were smashed and the grunts got louder and louder as the night wore on, Caroline Wozniacki was the last woman standing, upsetting Serena Williams in the Quarterfinals of the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open. It was the Dane’s first career victory over the American, who had a 3-0 lead in their previous encounters.

“I made her run,” said the fourth seeded Wozniacki said after the match. “Serena has won so many Grand Slams and so many tournaments, something that I would love to achieve one day. So to beat someone like her that I know that never gives up is definitely something that means a lot to me.”

Wozniacki’s gameplan was simple: Let the American beat herself. And that’s exactly what she did on a humid night in Key Biscayne, Florida. Committing 36 unforced errors to the Dane’s 13, Williams was eliminated in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. After the match, the 13-time Grand Slam champ acknowledged the fact that her opponent didn’t beat her as much as she beat herself.

“Everyone I play always plays the match of the year,” Williams said. “I probably played about 20 percent. I just made a tremendous amount of errors. There’s no reason for that. I’m older and I shouldn’t do that. There’s no excuse. I’ve just got to stop that. It’s silly.”

Wozniacki will advance to the semifinals to take on world No.2 Maria Sharapova on Thursday. The Russian beauty is coming off a very impressive victory, crushing reigning French Open champion Li Na, 6-3, 6-0. Despite committing 11 double-faults, Sharapova still managed to pull off a dominating victory. However, “Masha” understands that in order to be successful, some things need to be rectified immediately.

“It’s definitely not easy to play with that,” she said of her erroneous serving. “But I managed to win the match in two sets, so that’s a plus. Definitely consistency will be really important in the next match and getting the percentage up, and also returning a little bit better, little things here and there.”