Great Dane stuns Sharapova

Wozniacki: Impressive winner

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Caroline Wozniacki took a giant step towards her maiden grand slam title with an impressive straight-sets victory over Maria Sharapova in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows.

The top seed, a beaten finalist in New York 12 months ago, handled everything her Russian opponent threw at her before prevailing 6-3 6-4 in just under two hours of pulsating tennis.

Sharapova was made to pay the price for a string of double faults and unforced errors during a topsy-turvy encounter on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The number 14 seed, a winner in New York back in 2006, committed 19 of her 36 unforced errors in the opening set as the Dane drew first blood.

Wozniacki broke Sharapova's twice before serving out the set at the first time of asking after 53 minutes.

Fight

Both players matched each other blow-for-blow in the second set, however the 20-year-old Dane snatched a crucial break in the seventh game and never looked back.

Speaking after the match, Wozniacki told Sky Sports: "It was a tough match out there and I'm just happy to win and get through to the quarter-finals.

"I really enjoy playing out there in the big stadium, especially when the crowd are so loud and there's a great atmosphere. I was just enjoying myself and trying to fight for every point.

"She tried to do different things to get me out of my rhythm, and I just stayed in there and tried not to change much with my game."

Her reward is a last eight meeting with Dominika Cibulkova - a 7-5 7-6 victor over another former US Open champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, earlier in the day.

The Slovakian, at No.45, is the lowest ranked player in the draw following a poor season, but capitalised on a rash of unforced errors from the former champion to progress.

Cibulkova had not won back-to-back matches in six tournaments since Wimbledon before arriving in New York, but won her first two matches in three sets at Flushing Meadows including an epic victory over Kateryna Bondarenko.

Nightmare

Against Kuznetsova she took the opening set when her Russian opponent served a double fault on set point at 5-6 down, but Kuznetsova hit back to move into a 3-1 lead in the second.

However, Cibulkova won the next four games in a row and held two match points at 5-3 and 40-15 before succumbing to nerves, Kuznetsova winning four points in a row to get back on serve.

A tie-break was required and Kuznetsova's 10th double fault of the match helped Cibulkova into a 5-1 lead, the young right-hander this time holding her nerve to close out the match.

Elsewhere at Flushing Meadows on Monday, Kaia Kanepi came back from a nightmare start to secure a place in the last eight of the tournament at the expense of Yanina Wickmayer.

The Estonian was comprehensively blown away in the first set but gradually worked her way back into the match and eventually emerged a 0-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 winner.

Her reward is a quarter-final showdown with Wimbledon runner-up Vera Zvonareva of Russia who overwhelmed 38th-ranked Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-1 6-2.

Seventh seed Zvonareva's only real hiccup came when she served for the match at 5-1 in the second set and was broken for the only time in the contest.

But she instantly broke her opponent again in the very next game, closing out the match with a forehand return winner.

"I think I was a little bit more consistent and experienced than her," Zvonareva stated afterwards.