Agnieszka Radwanska produced a spectacular display during her roller coaster 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, triumph over Roberta Vinci at the Doha Open.
The world No.3 got off to a shaky start after a below-par service game in the third game of the match handed Vinci the early break. The fragility in Radwanska’s service continued throughout the opening set with the Polish player winning only 50% of her service points. As Vinci continued her impressive display, the Italian broke Radwanska’s serve for the second time to take the opening set after a backhand error from the world No.3.
After her mixed opening set performance, Radwanska started to increase her performance to pose a stiffer challenge to the Italian during the second set. The biggest increase concerned Radwanska’s first service rate, which increased from 73% (winning 50% of the points) to 92% (winning 64% of the points). As Radwanska mixed her game up with a variety of slices as well as outstanding work at the net, she generated back-to-back breaks to force a deciding set.
Taking proceedings into a final set, Radwanska shocked and amazed the crowd with a series of stunning shots. As Vinci grew increasingly frustrated, exchanging fiery conversations with her coach during changeovers, the winners kept coming from the higher ranked player as she raced to a 4-1 lead in the final set. Despite dealing a heavy blow to Vinci, who was earlier in control of the match, the experience Italian kept fighting by retrieving one of the breaks. Nevertheless, Radwanska managed to maintain her lead to close the match out after an hour and 53 minutes of action.
wow #Radwanska AMAZING ❗️ pic.twitter.com/6y5HqyP4OJ
— OurNumberOneRF (@Mikno78) 25 February 2016
Producing 40 winners, Radwanska will now move into the semifinals of the Doha Open for the fifth time in her career. Speaking on the court following her latest triumph, she acknowledged the talent of Vinci.
“She’s a very tricky player with great hands, so you always expect tricky points from her,” Radwanska said during her on-court interview.
“I was just trying to be better this time, so I hope you guys enjoyed it and I think it was a great match.”
The reward for Radwanska will be a last four showdown with Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro. Despite being broken four times in the match, the world No.11 battled back to beat Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina 6-3, 7-6(3), to reach her second semi final of the year.
“Today was very tough, she has won a lot of matches and is playing really well,” The Spanish No.2 said.
“In the second set she was amazing! But I just fight and I also played a good match”.
Radwanska currently has a winning head-to-head of 4-1 against Suarez Navarro.
Muguruza Goes Out
Earlier in the day, Garbine Muguruza became the latest seed to crash out after suffering a three sets loss to Germany’s Andrea Petkovic. The German recently reached the quarterfinals at last week’s Dubai Tennis Championships. Playing Muguruza in Doha, Petkovic converted five out of her 15 break point opportunities to win 6-1, 5-7, 6-2.
“It was so tough; Garbine is such a talented and dangerous player who put me under pressure,” Petkovic said.
“I’ve been playing really well the past few weeks. Everything is coming together, and I’m getting my match focus again.” She later added.
Petkovic will now play the surprise of the tournament, 18-year-old Jelena Ostapenko. The Latvian has enjoyed a delightful week in Doha after grabbing wins against former Grand Slam champions Svetlana Kuznetsova and Petra Kvitova in earlier rounds of the tournament. In the last eight, she eased her way past China’s Saisai Zheng 6-4, 6-3.
