Agnieszka Radwanska brought her game together at the right moment to move on at the French Open Thursday. The world number ten dealt with tremendous adversity against Alison van Uytvanck who went three sets with the Polish star in a 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-3 match on Court Suzanne Lenglen at Roland Garros in Paris. The 2 hour and 22-minute bout saw struggles from both sides but the win for Radwanska allowed her to gain confidence in her return to action.
Radwanska’s dominating start at Roland Garros only meant more would be on her path through the tournament. She already had two wins against the Belgian dating back four years. While she had a winning streak alive and well, it looked to be difficult to bring down a force in the WTA who made fast work of Fiona Ferro Tuesday. She would try to do so again if all the blocks laid out in the right place to make it happen.
It wasn’t turning out that way in the opening games as van Uytvanck had a 2-0 hold early in the set. It wasn’t until the third that Radwanska woke up and delivered a perfect love service to say she was ready to go. The Belgian didn’t let the sudden boost of offense across court bother her as she blasted another victory to her name with perfect positioning to deal with Radwanska’s return shots. Not wanting to fall further in the score, the ninth seed fought her heart out to keep the margin small for van Uytvanck. Radwanska also seemed to have blisters on her hands requiring assistance from the trainer to deal with her right hand while she had a break.
When play resumed to start the sixth, Radwanska got back to level terms with the Belgian but had trouble keeping play in the court thereafter. She lost control in the seventh serving van Uytvanck with a triple break before her own efforts earned her the win. She consolidated it with another victory that immediately put Radwanska on notice that her game had to improve quickly or suffer being a set down.
She responded with a strong break of van Uytvanck that got her in a tight spot going into tell that could go either way. The Polish star caught a break and won her way to forcing the Belgian into further games hoping to turn things around. Her love service set the bar high for van Uytvanck in the 12th to match with a win or allow Radwanska the full comeback. She denied the ninth seed an easy way to the set sending the two into a key tiebreaker to determine who had enough energy at the end of the first.
It was the Belgian who managed to keep together a gap between her and Radwanska on the score that allowed her to win 7-6. The set lasted 61 minutes with the indication of both players looking to keep the fight alive at all costs. Both had their problems on the second serve which was the only factored difference that gave the ninth seed a chance to be where she is.
Radwanska took the notion and made a good start in the second overtaking van Uytvanck in the second before building a sizable lead. It was quickly 4-1 in favor of the ninth seed who felt her dominance come together in order to hold off the Belgian. She had her grip tightening after six where she held a four-game gap on van Uytvanck who served for a chance to stay alive. She extended the set a game further but that was the extent of Radwanska’s allowance. She locked down the second set with a hold of serve that put the match into a critical third set enabling both to setup their own destiny going on.
Radwanska opened up the gap after a tie through two and went on a 3-1 lead before the Belgian responded again. She found a way to trade off wins against the Polish star but the margin was tough to come back from. She soon found herself on the edge with Radwanska up 5-3 playing her way to end the match. She kept the heat on van Utyvanck keeping ahead on the scoreboard to end the set in 35 minutes and guarantee her spot in the third round.
Radwanska’s tough game play was apparent once more in the eyes of fans who saw her battle back from the fight van Uytvanck brought to court. She was more than guaranteed of that as she planned to go against Alize Cornet who pulled off an upset earlier in the day and would have her countrymen behind her on Saturday.
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