NEW YORK --- Grit was not going to be enough to get Maria Sharapova through this one.
Not with nine double-faults, including three in a row. Not with 36 unforced errors.
And certainly not with No. 1-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark across the net Monday in the fourth round of the U.S. Open, doing "what she does best," as Sharapova put it: getting to nearly every ball and hammering it back, and stretching points until her opponent misses the mark.
It added up to a 6-3, 6-4 victory for 2009 U.S. Open runner-up Wozniacki over Sharapova, who has failed to make it even as far as the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows since winning the 2006 title.
"I felt like I was playing well out there," Wozniacki said. "I made her do those errors."
It's the first victory for Wozniacki in three career meetings against the 14th-seeded Sharapova, but they hadn't met since 2008. In that time, the 20-year-old Wozniacki has grown as a player and built a huge supply of confidence, thanks to her Grand Slam final debut in New York and, most recently, her 18-1 record since Wimbledon.
Wozniacki carries a 12-match winning streak into her quarterfinal against 45th-ranked Dominika Cibulkova, who eliminated 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 7-6 (4).
The 5-foot-3 Cibulkova, a semifinalist at the 2009 French Open, was treated for a left leg problem between sets but still improved to 2-8 against top-15 players this season -- with both victories against the 11th-seeded Kuznetsova, who double-faulted 10 times Monday.
The other quarterfinal on that side of the draw will be No. 31 Kaia Kanepi, of Estonia, against No. 7 Vera Zvonareva, who overwhelmed 38th-ranked Andrea Petkovic, of Germany, 6-1, 6-2 Monday night.
Kanepi did the same by coming back to defeat 2009 U.S. Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer, of Belgium, 0-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1.
Third-seeded Novak Djokovic reached the men's quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive year by beating No. 19 Mardy Fish 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. Fish's exit leaves one U.S. man in the tournament, No. 20 Sam Querrey, who is in fourth-round action today against No. 25 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.
Serbia's Djokovic, the 2007 U.S. Open runner-up and 2008 Australian Open champion, next faces No. 17 Gael Monfils, a 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 winner over Richard Gasquet in an all-French matchup.
Another quarterfinal will pit five-time U.S. Open champion Roger Federer against No. 5 Robin Soderling, a two-time French Open finalist whose upset of Federer in that round at Paris this year ended his record streak of reaching the semifinals at 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments.
Federer reached the quarterfinals at a 26th major in a row by beating No. 13 Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in Monday night's last match.
Sweden's Soderling hit 15 aces in his 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win against No. 21 Albert Montanes of Spain.
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