Agnieszka Radwanska went far and wide at the US Open but couldn’t hold off her opponent Saturday. Coco Vandeweghe gave it her all pushing Radwanska to the breaking point that concluding a marathon match in a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 win for the American at Arthur Ashe Stadium on the grounds of the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center.
The tenth seed holds a major winning streak against the American when it came to the hard courts. In four official matches, Radwanska took every one of them in straight sets allowing an average of five games to Vandeweghe. Her most recent win against the California native came at Toronto in what was their sixth first round match. With the third round determining who would move into the second week of competition, Vandeweghe had a lot of momentum built up with her previous wins of Alison Riske and Ons Jabeur. Despite dropping a set, playing deep into the slam has her with a fighting chance of upsetting Radwanska.
Radwanska conducted herself smoothly in the opening games that saw her setting up drop shots with Vandeweghe not setting up for the return correctly. She saw herself foiled by those shots through the first two games and was quickly down 0-3. By the second service game, the American added some fire to the ball which created forced errors by Radwanska. Vandeweghe easily held to get on the board followed by a great set of returns that were too fast for the tenth seed. It resulted in a recovery of the break for Vandeweghe as Radwanska double faulted.
The American completed the comeback at three all and quickly found herself taking over the lead. The pressure was high on the Polish star to act but she fell in two consecutive games as Vandeweghe played at the level she wanted to be. Radwanska got a much needed service hold in the ninth to sit a game down but taking down the American on the break proved to be a heavy task.
She went for the break but Vandeweghe’s return caught the line that forced deuce. Nervous moments came to the 20th seed as her returns in rallies faltered enough to give Radwanska an offensive push. Vandeweghe got into a tug of war for possession of the game that went five breaks with the world number 11 smashing the ball in Vandeweghe’s end. The 25 slammed her racket at the conclusion of an 11 minute battle knowing that she blew three set point attempts and had to go the distance with her opponent who remained cool and collected.
The challenges were still alive and well for the Polish tennis star as she dealt with Vandeweghe’s push that never lessened in intensity. Instead she put Radwanska under pressure twice that gave her the first set in 64 minutes. Both had their issues with the second serve and the numerous unforced errors but the leverage sitting with the American had Radwanska needing a positive outcome going into the second.
She put the set aside and got in front of Vandeweghe taking a 2-1 lead after three games. Radwanska couldn’t keep the pace high enough to stop the American who in turn leveled back in the fourth. The two top 20 players kept close with one another that saw them in a 4-4 stalemate with neither of them giving away too much. Radwanska was the first to act on serve taking the stance to end the set at all possible. She played against Vandeweghe’s serve only to make it difficult for the American to defend. The tenth seed played out two breaks before winning the game that set up a deciding third set.
It was a give and take start to the third as they remained very close on the scoreboard with Radwanska leading the way on her serve. A break in the fifth went to Vandeweghe who put good marks on her serve that gave her a chance to widen her own lead. She kept up the breaks on Radwanska that gave her the momentum she wanted to make a huge statement. It came in the shape of a 5-3 hold that saw her playing for the fourth round.
An important hold went to Radwanska as she delivered important wins against Vandeweghe to stay in it. The American earned a chance to get it done herself in the tenth where on match point, it was over on Radwanska’s return that was shown to land wide ending 2 hour and 55 minutes of a thrilling battle.
Aga’s a really difficult player to play against,” Vandweghe said to ESPN’s Renae Stubbs after the match. “She puts you in a lot of uncomfortable situations and makes you play a lot of extra balls and that can definitely get frustrating when you miss a silly shot or you have the opportunity and you second guess yourself but I just tried to stay focused, try to regroup in my routines and try the next point.”
More points will be need to won when she faces Lucie Safarova in the fourth round that takes place next week.
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