Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki prolonged their one-time-only doubles partnership on Wednesday when they reached the semifinals of the ASB Classic.
Playing together for the first time in their careers, Serena and Wozniacki defeated top-seeded Johanna Larsson of Sweden and Caroline Dolehide of the United States 6-2, 6-1 after beating Nao Hibino and Makoto Ninomiya of Japan in their opening match.
The pair will not play together at the Australian Open, which will be Wozniacki’s final Grand Slam tournament before retirement, but for an exhibition against Serena in Copenhagen in May. For that reason, the Auckland tournament offers the only chance for fans to savour the sight of two former world singles No. 1s playing as a partnership.
The match against Larsson and Dolehide, both accomplished doubles partnerships, was the toughest test for Serena and Wozniacki. Larsson has 13 doubles titles and Dolehide has been a U.S. Open doubles semifinalist.
Serena was a driving force in their win on Wednesday, dominating the court, though she paid tribute to Wozniacki who, she said, “never missed.”
