Agnieszka Radwanska coasted to another easy win to end the day at the US Open. The number four seed eased her way into the second round beating Jessica Pegula of the United States 6-1, 6-1 at Louis Armstrong Stadium Tuesday night.
The recently crowned Connecticut Open champ had only 48 hours to prepare for a run at the Grand Slam with plenty of practice paying off. With the fresh victory in New Haven, the US Open Series bonus winner has her eyes set on the title and a million dollars if she can make it to the final and win. She came into the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center faced against an unknown opponent who made her first appearance last year. While she might not stand a chance against the current world number four, the 22-year-old would give her best to nail down the first big upset of the event.
Getting to that point was harder than thought for the Buffalo, New York native as Radwanska held serve and consolidated the break with a third straight victory. In that span of her winning streak, Pegula had yet to record a single point. She got the chance to do so in the fourth but Radwanska’s returns threw her off the rhythm making it a complete runaway after just 12 minutes.
Down 5-0, the American got one last chance to make something of her service in the match. By some miracle, the 22-year-old put in the hard work, beating Radwanska by double points preventing the bagel. She couldn’t stop the inevitable from occurring as Radwanska rushed to the finish line in the set with a pair of set points taking the match lead after a blistering 21 minutes.
The Polish tennis star moved onward with the match taking a quick 2-0 lead to start the second set. Game Three saw Pegula focus more on her shot strength and playing deep into the rallies with her opponent. She got onto deuce with Radwanska for the first time but couldn’t fight off her opponent who took a 3-0 getting half way to a match win.
Her winning streak came to an end once more after going five in a row on the American. It was the fifth that Pegula got the edge on Radwanska holding her to a pair of game points to hold off another bagel. When it looked as if she’d get another game off the world number four, she folded under the pressure of Radwanska’s service. It was the 16th unforced errors by the American and knew there was very little time left to make a final stab at success.
For the third time in the set, Pegula got a lead for herself but committed an unforced error to let Radwanska back in. She held deuce to a single break before watching the American end her match after 55 minutes. Radwanska double faulted just one maintaining a high first serve percentage while committing just four unforced errors on the night. “I’m just happy to be in the second round,” Radwanska said after the match. “While playing someone for the first time is never easy, so I’m very happy to play my best tennis tonight.”
More is to come from the fourth seed as she’ll take on Naomi Broady of Great Britain on Thursday.
Photo by: Elsa/Getty Images
Photo by: Elsa/Getty Images
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