Wozniacki bounces into quarters

Wozniacki came off second best in an encounter with a kangaroo earlier this week but bounced back at Melbourne Park to beat Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova and seal a spot in the quarter-finals.

The Danish world number one, Caroline Wozniackitold reporters she had been touring a wildlife park outside Melbourne with friends this week and approached a baby kangaroo lying on the grass, concerned it may need help.

As the 20-year-old discovered to her detriment, kangaroos can be fiercely territorial and she ended up with a scratch on her shin and a trip to the hospital.

“I thought I was going to be nice and try to help it out because it was just lying there. I thought maybe it needed some help ... I found out that I shouldn’t do that,” said Wozniacki, after raising her leg to show some tape covering the wound.

“Yeah, it scratched me pretty well.

“I went to the doctor. They cleaned it and everything. They wanted to do a few stitches. I said, ‘there’s no way you’re going to do stitches’.

“It looked so cute. But once it started scratching me, I was a coward and I run away.”

Wozniacki was also on the back foot early against 46^th-ranked Sevastova, who broke her serve and marched to a 3-1 lead in the first set before the Dane settled and reeled off six games in a row.

Sevastova fought back to 4-4 after being a break down in the second set, but notched two unforced errors to hand it straight back and Wozniacki sealed the match after whipping a cross-court forehand winner.

Running the show

Wozniacki, who has not dropped a set at the tournament, will next play French Open winner Francesca Schiavone or two-times grand slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The Dane ran her own media conference earlier this week after being fed up listening to questions about her status as a world number one without a grand slam title.

She deferred to reporters on Sunday but was still happy to talk at length on various subjects, ranging from her beloved English Premier League club Liverpool to her flirtations with handball, soccer and swimming as a child.

A question about how she spends her considerable winnings on the Tour left her in an awkward position, however, as she revealed her biggest purchase was “probably a car.”

“I have to watch out now because I love Audi. Audi is my sponsor, so ...”

“Not an Audi then?” she was asked.

“Uhm, next question,” she blushed.