By Chris Hunn, Register Staff
chunn@newhavenregister.com

NEW HAVEN — It wasn’t a bad week for Caroline Wozniacki.

After putting the finishing touches on a Rogers Cup title in Montreal on Monday, she capped her week with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Nadia Petrova Saturday at the Connecticut Tennis Center to win her third straight Pilot Pen Tennis tournament title.

“I feel really great,” Wozniacki said. “I feel I’ve been playing some really good tennis and I’m really pleased about the results.”

Tied at 2-2 in the first set, Wozniacki took the set by winning three of the final four games. In the second set, Petrova trailed 3-2 before breaking Wozniacki’s serve, and then winning the next four games to even the match at 1-1. Wozniacki opened the third set with a 2-0 lead. That’s when Petrova took a medical timeout because of a back injury.

“It made a big difference,” Petrova said of the injury. “It made me lose my service game and give her a 2-0 lead. I mean, if I would just hold my serve until the end of the third set, anything could’ve happened.”

Petrova finished with 12 aces. She did bounce back after her timeout. She broke Wozniacki’s serve and cut her deficit to 4-3 in the final set. That’s as close as she would get though, as top-seeded Wozniacki won the final two games to secure her third straight victory this

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season over fourth-seeded Petrova.

For Petrova, the run was a positive sign. She gained some confidence in her hardcourt game and responded to last year’s first-round loss in New Haven with a trip to this year’s final after being granted the last wild card spot.

And then she ran into Wozniacki. Continued...

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“She has this incredible depth in her shots and very good placement of the ball,” Petrova said of Wozniacki.

Wozniacki improves to 13-0 in New Haven and earns $600,000 in prize money. Her three successive Pilot Pen titles are only second to Venus Williams, who won four straight from 1999-2002. Wozniacki, the No. 2 player in the world, enters the U.S. Open as the top seed and has a chance to double her singles earnings there because she captured the U.S. Open Series championship.

Will the extended number of matches catch up with Wozniacki? She admits she’s had a tough week, but says she feels great.

Williams stopped coming to New Haven after her fourth consecutive title because the schedule became too hectic. Wozniacki says the thought of not returning to New Haven hasn’t even crossed her mind.

“I love this tournament,” Wozniacki said. “It’s been great preparation for me the last couple of years. So I would love to come back.”

Shortly after she said that, Pilot Pen tournament director Anne Worcester reminded Wozniacki that Williams twice followed up her Pilot Pen championship with a U.S. Open title.

“Maybe this is your year,” Worcester said.

Wozniacki responded with a smile and said: “I would love for it to be my year.”

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