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Caroline Wozniacki may be the best No. 1-ranked women's player to never win a Grand Slam singles title. In fact, she's taken some abuse for not accomplishing more in the 67 weeks she reigned as the sport's top player. Not to mention the 22 months since. This is wrong. As it turns out, she was up there longer than a lot of players whose names might surprise you: • Kim Clijsters, a four-time major winner, managed only 20 weeks at No. 1 over the course of her two-part career. • Venus Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, made it for a underwhelming total of 11 weeks. • Maria Sharapova, with five majors, has been ranked No. 1 for only 21 weeks -- and never at year's end. In fact, Victoria Azarenka (51 weeks), Dinara Safina (26), Jelena Jankovic (18) and Ana Ivanovic (12) all spent less time on the WTA's hot seat.  The point? Cut Wozniacki -- who finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2010 and 2011 -- some slack. She's still working on the Grand Slam thing but she's a vastly more complete player today than when she was in her heyday. "When you look at who has finished No. 1 a couple of times in a row, you see there are very few people who have managed to do that," Wozniacki said Sunday in Singapore. "When you're No. 1, at the top of the list, there is so much more attention on you, so many more things you have to do for tournaments, for sponsors. "It's a great place to be, but you also get less time to practice." With her mounting training for next week's New York City marathon, Wozniacki probably hasn't been hitting the ball as much lately as she did earlier in the year, but it doesn't seem to matter. Monday, she outfought one the WTA's toughest competitors -- Sharapova -- in a match that went 3 hours, 13 minutes. That's probably not all that far from the time she'll run in Gotham. After winning a second-set tiebreaker, the conventional wisdom was that Sharapova would will herself to a victory critical to her chances of catching Serena Williams for the year-end No. 1 ranking. Wozniacki didn't let it happen. In that third set, it was Sharapova who looked winded and slightly flummoxed. It wasn't just that the Russian hit 76 unforced errors and 15 double faults. Wozniacki was relentless from side to side, digging out a number of improbable balls. Wozniacki has always been a terrific defender, but now she's serving more aggressively and taking chances with her beefed-up forehand. By beating Sharapova in her opening match, Wozniacki looks like a good bet to advance to the semifinals. That's not bad for the last one into the field, because Li Na announced her retirement. It's easy to forget that, at 24, the Dane is the third-youngest player in the field -- after newcomers Eugenie Bouchard (20) and Simona Halep (23). Further, Wozniacki is currently fourth among active players with 22 titles, trailing only Serena Williams (63), Venus Williams (45) and Sharapova (33). After falling to No. 18, her worst ranking this year, Wozniacki has rebounded to finish in the top 10 for the sixth consecutive year -- something no other woman has been able to match. One of the nice stories from the US Open was the friendship of the finalists, Serena Williams and Wozniacki. Although Williams came away with a straight-sets victory, you get the idea Wozniacki would welcome another crack at Serena. "Sometimes [the No. 1 ranking] just takes a toll on you, even though you love to do it," Wozniacki said. "I think it's just natural that you just can't maintain the same level for so long. I managed to do it for two years, and that was great. "When you're No. 1, you're a target. You just need to keep getting better because obviously everyone is talking about how to beat you. I feel like I'm on my way back and playing well."
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