Agnieszka Radwanska was full of energy to be back in action at the Rogers Cup Tuesday. She put her best foot forward against Coco Vandeweghe who didn’t have her best on Centre Court losing in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 on Centre Court at the Aviva Tennis Centre on the campus of York University.
This was the first match since the Polish star got married last month. While her happiness to be wed was a positive move in her life, the world number ten had her moments of struggle this season. She’d hope to have the advantage to begin the tournament with the American who went the distance last week. Vandeweghe went all the way to the Bank of the West finals only to fall against Madison Keys in straight sets. Although the power hitter was warmed up, facing Radwanska would be a difficult task to outduel the Polish star who is back and ready to bring her best to the hard courts.
The two started off with holds of serve before the big change arrived in the fifth. Radwanska began to increase her game bringing things up to speed to beat the returns of Vandeweghe across court. The world number ten continued to hold off the American which lead to an important chance to change the lead. Radwanska kept her best returns high in the very next game giving her the consolidated chance to open the gap at 4-2.
The frustrations increased for Vandeweghe as she went down another game sitting on the edge of defeat in the set. With all her might, she managed to hold off Radwanska on serve but the pressure once again returned. The tenth seed had a rhythm that challenged the 25-year-old who got into a debate with the umpire but didn’t help her efforts. She lost the set to the 28-year-old in 37 minutes. Radwanska had the better first serve landing 59 percent of her shots while minimizing the unforced errors. The same couldn’t be said for Vandeweghe who struggled on the returns as much as her offense.
It was more of it going into the second set with Radwanska making the American work so hard for points in the set. By the end of the third, the tenth seed had the lead which led Pat Cash to come out and speak to Vandeweghe. Knowing of her recent push from last week, his request to play it out was all that mattered going forward.
She watched as Radwanska turned up the head and blasted her way to a 5-1 position hoping to break Vandeweghe on her serve. The American didn’t let that occur with all the energy left in her and delivered a much-needed win to stay alive. Radwanska was back in control of her destiny as she made it a tough outing only to lose it all in 1 hour and 19 minutes.
“I’m really happy that I could play my best tennis in the first round especially with the conditions are somewhat tricky,” Radwanska said during her on court interview. “I’m happy to have won this match in two sets.” She’ll await the winner between Timea Babos and Bianca Andreescu in the second round.
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