![\"Dellacqua-US-Open-6-700x450\"](\"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/files\/2014\/09\/Dellacqua-US-Open-6-700x450.jpg\")
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Casey Dellacqua admits her stunning transformation from doubles contender to Grand Slam singles force is \u201ccrazy\u201d, but says she\u2019s not done yet at the US Open in New York.<\/p>\n
In an awesome display of unflinching counter-punching, Dellacqua defeated rising Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-3 3-6 6-4 in a high-quality third-round encounter on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The big-hitting left-hander next plays Flavia Pennetta on Monday and victory over Italy\u2019s 11th seed would thrust her into a grand slam quarterfinal for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d Dellacqua said after pounding 30 winners on Show Court 17.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got to the fourth round a couple of times at the Aussie Open before and been close (including this year), but I\u2019d really like to make my first quarterfinal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really want to finish this slam off just as well as I started the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
After tumbling out of the world\u2019s top 200 following a first-round defeat at Flushing Meadows last year, Dellacqua is incredibly now on the verge of cracking the top 25.<\/p>\n
With former Open champion Sam Stosur under pressure to defend a mountain of rankings points from three late-season finals appearances last year, Dellacqua is also favoured to end 2014 as Australia\u2019s new No.1.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s actually pretty crazy to think,\u201d said the 29-year-old mother of one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis trip I\u2019ve had a lot of time to reflect on the past 12 months, probably because I haven\u2019t had Blake around, so I\u2019ve had a lot more time on my hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019ve had a lot of time to reflect upon the last 12 months and it\u2019s been quite a journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis time last year I rocked up and was playing qualifying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pliskova had trounced Dellacqua in straight sets in their only previous meeting, last October in Kuala Lumpar, but the West Australian once again proved she\u2019s the most improved player in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main goal for me now is just to be consistently be consistent. I don\u2019t want to have results here and there,\u201d Dellacqua said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be a player that beats who I should beat and I want to be that player that girls are a bit frightened to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chuffed to have lived up to expectations by taking out three lower-ranked foes, Dellacqua is now bracing for her biggest test yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be pumped and ready to go to play Flavia on Monday. I\u2019m ready for the challenge,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s obviously a high-quality opponent. She made the semis here last year, is No.11 in the world.\u00a0I guess I\u2019ll just approach it the way I always do, and that is do all the things that I do well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll always fight hard and I\u2019ll always have a crack.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pennetta powered into the last 16 with a 6-4 6-0 win over American qualifier Nicole Gibbs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a really tough challenge for me,\u201d said Dellacqua, who made three major doubles finals in 2013 and won the 2008 mixed doubles title.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe fights hard and both sides \u2013 forehand, backhand \u2013 she\u2019s pretty solid and has a decent serve.\u00a0So if she brings her A-game, I\u2019m going to have to bring a really high level to beat her.\u201d<\/p>\n
The winner will play either two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, the 16th seed, or Serbian qualifier Aleksandra Krunic on Wednesday for a semifinal spot.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Casey Dellacqua admits her stunning transformation from doubles contender to Grand Slam singles force is \u201ccrazy\u201d, but says she\u2019s not done yet at the US Open in New York. In an awesome display of unflinching counter-punching, Dellacqua defeated rising Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-3 3-6 6-4 in a high-quality third-round encounter on Saturday. The big-hitting left-hander […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5894,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5894"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}