Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships: Catherine Bellis brought back down to earth by Caroline Wozniacki

DUBAI // Following her first win over a top-10 player on Wednesday, Catherine Bellis had accepted “it’s not always going to be as happy-go-lucky” for her on the WTA Tour. On Thursday, the American teenager’s prophecy was proved right.

Caroline Wozniacki, a former world No 1 and teen prodigy herself, gave Bellis, 17, a chastising lesson in elite tennis, reeling off nine games on the trot to turn the tables on her opponent and secure a sixth consecutive semi-final appearance in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with a 6-3, 6-2 win.

“She’s such a great player,” said Bellis, who had stunned world No 6 Agnieszka Radwanska the previous night to earn a showdown with Wozniacki. “It was really fun for me to see what the highest level is.

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■ Day 4: Angelique Kerber cruises past Monica Puig

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“I know I did yesterday, but to see it again. Maybe it wasn’t my best tennis, but I think she definitely played really well. Definitely just another learning experience for me and a really good one.”

Bellis had made the better start and was a break up, leading 3-1 before Wozniacki turned it around, reeling off five games in succession to take the first set. The Dane, ranked No 15 in the world, then won the first four games of the second set before Bellis finally broke that nine-game run, holding serve on her third attempt in the set. The fate of the match, however, was sealed by then.

“That just shows at the highest level that they can do that and just come back and really run away with a match like that,” said Bellis, who did not really help her cause by committing 33 unforced errors. Wozniacki, by comparison, had 15.

“I stepped into the court a little bit after being down 3-1 and just tried to keep the pressure on her, make her think a little bit, not give her too many free points,” said Wozniacki, who meets Anastasija Sevastova in today’s first semi-final. “It worked out.”

A top-five-ranked player before her 20th birthday and No 1 just a few months later, Wozniacki knows from past experience what it is like to be in Bellis’s situation.

“Well, I have been there myself,” said Wozniacki, the 2011 Dubai champion. “So I just try to put myself in her shoes. For me, it was just very important to stay strong and not show any negative emotions, but just stay positive all the time, show that I have the presence on court and really make her play those extra balls and points.

“She would really have to play on a really high level to beat me, because I was going to give that extra ball back. I wasn’t going to just give it to her.”

Bellis was not able to play at that “really high level” but Wozniacki is convinced a bright future lies ahead for the American, whose next stop is the Indian Wells tournament.

“I think she has a great game,” Wozniacki said. “She takes the ball on the rise. She’s pretty quick on her feet, and I think that will bring her far.

“She’s definitely going to gain experience over the next couple of years. This year, for her, I think, is going to be easier than next year because she has no pressure. Everything that she wins is going to be a plus.

“Next year, having to defend that and people starting to know her, will be a little tougher, but I have no doubt that she’s going to come up out and just get better from that.

“She seems like a hard worker. I’m excited to see what the future holds for her.”

RESULTS

Singles quarter-finals:

■ [10] C Wozniacki (DEN) beat C Bellis (USA) 6-3,

■ [7] E Svitolina (UKR) beat L Davis (USA) 6-0, 6-4

■ A Sevastova (LAT) beat Q Wang (CHN) 6-4, 7-5

■ [1] A Kerber (GER) beat A Konjuh (CRO) 6-3, 6-2

ORDER OF PLAY

Centre Court (starts 2pm)

■ [2] E Makarova (RUS)/E Vesnina (RUS) vs [3] S Mirza (IND)/B Strycova (CZE)

Not Before 5pm

■ [10] C Wozniacki (DEN) vs A Sevastova (LAT)