Australian Open: After a scare, Caroline Wozniacki is moving ahead

Caroline Wozniacki is continuing to cash in on her second chance at the Australian Open, reaching the quarterfinals here for the first time since 2012 with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Magdelana Rybaricova on Sunday.

After her close call in the second round — she had to save two match points and come back from 5-1 down in the third set — No. 2-ranked Wozniacki said she was “playing with the house money” and had nothing to lose.

She has won both matches since in straight sets and will next play Carla Suarez Navarro, who came back from a set and 4-1 down to beat No. 32 Anett Kontaveit 4-6, 6-4, 8-6.

After a tight tussle in the opening four games against No. 19-seeded Rybaricova, a Wimbledon semifinalist last year, Wozniacki dominated the fourth-round match. She even tried a between-the-legs “tweener” from near the baseline for the first time in a tour-level match. She didn’t win the point, but said it was progress.

“I think you can tell my confidence is high,” she said in an on-court TV interview. “I tried a tweener today and it went in.”

She looked at a replay on the stadium screen and joked, “I’m admiring myself there.”

Wozniacki could return to the top ranking if shereaches the semifinals and a combination of other results go her way.

She has never won a Grand Slam singles title but lost the U.S. Open final twice — to Kim Clijsters in 2009 and to Serena Williams in 2014.

In Saturday’s late matches, 2016 champion Angelique Kerber routed Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-3 in a third-round win that showcased her credentials as a title contender and ensured she’ll be the only Grand Slam champion still playing in the second week in the women’s draw.

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic were almost as ruthless in their straight-sets wins Saturday night, which is hardly surprising for two players with a combined 31 Grand Slam titles. Federer defeated Richard Gasquet and Djokovic routed Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Sharapova was back at the Australian Open for the first time since 2016, when a failed doping test led to a 15-month ban from tennis.

After two comfortable wins, the five-time major winner was growing in confidence, but she had no answers for Kerber, who is on a 12-match winning streak in a kind of comeback of her own after sliding down the rankings last year.

“Of course it’s quite a big match. I mean, Maria is a champion. She’s always dangerous, especially at the Grand Slams,” Kerber said. “I was really trying to not think about everything around, about against who I’m playing.”

Kerber’s year-end ranking dropped from No. 1 in 2016 to No. 21 last year when she failed to defend her Australian or U.S. Open titles. “Anybody who knows me knows I never give up.”