Niculescu hits back at Wozniacki in grunting row

Monica Niculescu accused world number one Caroline Wozniacki of giving herself “too much importance” after a grunting row erupted during their third-round clash at the Qatar Open.

Wozniacki, who climbed back to the top of the rankings after winning her first grand slam title at the Australian Open, complained to the umpire about the noise Niculescu was making during the ninth game of the contest in Doha.

Wozniacki was heard saying putting opponents off was the only way Niculescu can win and, after coming through the match 7-5 6-1, she continued to criticise the Romanian in her on-court interview.

Speaking at her post-match press conference, Wozniacki said: “She’s a player that tries to get into your head. I just tried to let him (the umpire) know to pay attention to her grunting because she’ll hit the ball and two seconds later when the ball is on my side and I’m right about to hit, she’ll start grunting and make a noise, and she’ll change the grunt according to what she feels like.

“It’s disturbing. It’s in the rules that they’re not supposed to do that so I was just making sure the umpire was paying attention to that. And she stopped doing that after.”

Niculescu, who has one of the most unorthodox games on the WTA Tour and bamboozled Maria Sharapova in round one, took a dim view of Wozniacki’s comments.

Speaking to Romanian TV channel Digi Sport, Niculescu said: “That was very bad from her, I have never heard a number one talk like that. I am really disappointed by what she said and I think she gives herself too much importance.  I didn’t want to get in her head. This is how I play.”