Agnieszka
Radwanska’s game was challenged from start to finish at the Wuhan Open Wednesday afternoon. Ashleigh Barty took it
to her hard with aggression, skill and some tricks along the way that gave her
the 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 victory on
Center Court at the Wuhan Optical Valley Tennis Centre. The 21 year old not
only gained a spot in the semifinals but also captured her first win over a top
20 player this season.
The Australian put together a well performed defeat of
Johanna Konta Monday in position to vie for another chance at upsetting strong
contenders. The ninth seed hasn’t been at her complete best but has managed to
not drop a set in her two recent victories. While neither have faced each other
before, the 21-year-old would give the Polish superstar everything on court in
order to move forward in what has become a strong debut in the tournament.
Both opened with holds of serve but the first to make a
break for it was Barty who earned free points on Radwanska’s unforced errors.
It gave her a 3-1 stance but the warm up of the Polish star got the 28-year-old
back on track and into motion with a three-game winning streak. Barty brought
an end to her opponent’s fun with an important hold in the eighth to level the
score.
The response was tough from Radwanska as she brushed off the
force from Barty and reached the chance for the set with Barty on serve.
Radwanska delivered big hits on the returns that spoiled any further shots for
the Aussie to strike back and put her name in stone to complete 45 minutes. She
only had four unforced errors in the set with the service in good form to
continue on with her skills.
During the break, Barty’s coach came out to let his athlete
know it wasn’t over and that plenty of time was available for her to counteract
the match. She did exactly that breaking Radwanska twice to dictate the second
set more than she expected. The young Aussie took the next three quickly to get
a well-deserved bagel that was completed in 26 minutes. Nine times out of ten,
the set would have been in the hands of the ninth seed but her sudden downfall
on the first and second serve made it an easy break forward for Barty to force
the deciding set with force. She landed 88 percent on the first serve and 83 on
the second landing 11 winners in the process.
Barty’s winning streak increased to seven straight to begin
the third with a fourth consecutive break. Radwanska came alive in the second
game where she not only earned the break but let everyone see she was not out
of it yet to end the lengthened tail spin. The fight was still a difficult one
for the ninth seed as she struggled with Barty who was on a mission to get the
upset in writing. She held off a surge from Radwanska who forced deuce in the
sixth but an unforced error opened the door for Barty to walk through and slam
shut for another step in the right direction.
A key hold for Radwanska kept her close to the Australian but
the momentum was well in her favor as she showed tremendous confidence in her
game that set her up for match point opportunities with the ninth seed on the
edge. A much-needed service game came from Radwanska earning the shutout with
great winners across court that had her hopes alive but hanging by a thread.
Barty came out aggressive at first and put control first and
foremost with two consecutive aces followed by a winner. All the hard work was
erased by an error that forced deuce with Radwanska who made every attempt to
stay solid on the returns. Barty put her backhand to work at times where after
three breaks, the final rally ended dramatically to give the Australian a big win
and her first top 20 upset that took 1 hour and 57 minutes to pull off.
“I think my serve was very important today and I needed to
look after my service game so I could do a few runs in her games but very happy
to play well today and look forward to the next match,” Barty said after the
match. She’ll hope to get closer to a second title this season but her
quarterfinal opponent between Karolina Pliskova and Qiang Wang would take place
Thursday.
No comments:
Post a Comment