There were a number of contenders who were up for VAVEL USA's WTA Player of the Month award. Simona Halep reached two finals and won a title. Angelique Kerber found her form and went on a torrid run which saw her go unbeaten in Hopman Cup, win a title in Sydney, and reached the semifinal at the Australian Open.
Elise Mertens also won a title and reached a first-ever Grand Slam semifinal while Elina Svitolina also captured a title and had her best showing in Melbourne Park. In the end, VAVEL USA decided the award to Caroline Wozniacki after a month which saw her reach two finals and win a maiden Slam title.
Following Up A Strong Finish
Though with an abundance of finals to her name last season, Wozanicki fell short of capturing the winners' silverware. It wasn't until the tail-end of 2017 where Wozniacki began to take home titles. She won the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and then captured her biggest title by winning the WTA Finals in Singapore.
She began 2018 at the ASB Classic in Auckland. The Dane was looking quite strong, easing her way through the draw before running into an inform Julia Goerges. The German outpowered the top seed in Auckland en route to the title but nonetheless, it was still a very good showing for the Dane.
Major Swings To Major Title
At the Australian Open, Wozniacki entered as one of the favorites in the event, which came to no surprise given her form to end off 2017 and to start the new year. She ran into some trouble in her second round match against Croatian Jana Fett though. She was down 1-5 and two match points to the Croat but pulled off a stunning comeback to win 7-5 in the decider.
After that scare, she quickly won her next two matches before an early morning/late night showdown with Carla Suarez Navarro. The Spaniard looked flustered early on, losing the first set 0-6 but fought back to take a second set tiebreak before Wozniacki claimed the match. Wozniacki then took out first-time major semifinalist Elise Mertens to set up a showdown with Simona Halep as each woman was bidding for a maiden major title.
You could arguably say it was the match of the tournament. Halep and Wozniacki were trading blows in a match that saw so many ups and downs and even injury timeouts. In the end, it was Caroline Wozniacki who came from behind in the final set to win her first Grand Slam title.
The win made the Dane the first player ever from Denmark to win a Grand Slam title, joined Li Na and Angelique Kerber as recent champions to save match points before the final, and returned to world number one.
