Agnieszka Radwanska defeats Kai-Chen Chang in the 2nd round – Bank of the West Classic 2011
Starting off on the 27th July 2011 was the second round of the Bank of the West Classic 2011 between the Polish, Agnieszka Radwanska and the Chinese Taipei, Kai-Chen Chang at the Taube
Family Tennis Center Stanford University, California. The 22-year-old Pole won the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in one hour, 37 minutes and five seconds.
The two were meeting for the first time on outdoor hard courts; Radwanska opened the set with an ace, she later hit one more ace. However, she hit the net once striking a double fault. While her opponent struck two line faults
and did not ace even once!
Although both the players performed commendably on their first serves, Kai lost her points in the second serve along with a poor return she was unable to defend herself against her opponent.
Radwanska capitalised on three of the five break point opportunities she created and saved one of the three break points she faced on her own serve in the opening set. On the other hand, Kai had converted two of the three break
point opportunities and saved two break points she faced on her own serve. The match was close between both the players; however Radwanska won the set with five points more in the total set points.
Kai turned a new leaf during the second set; she opened the set by smashing an ace and with extreme precision struck zero double faults. Whereas, her opponent’s accuracy had failed her twice striking two line faults.
After taking a beating she improved a couple of notches in her serve and return serve (winning sixty six percent in her total serve points along with forty eight percent in her total return points) her defence was relatively stable
than the previous set as she was able to break her opponent twice and saved three out of the four break points.
It seemed as if Radwanska was resting and let her opponent win; as she was not able to hold on to her defence and lost a number of points as she was only able to capitalise on one break point. The Higher Power had granted her (Kai)
wish and now both the players had bagged one set each.
The final set of the match came into play, the world number 14 had rested and was about to snatch the set right out of her opponents hands (which she did). Serving first again was Radwanska; she threw three aces at her opponent
and did not hit a single double fault. She not only had a superior serve but also a return serve that re-bounded all her opponent’s serves.
Her defence was like a fortress that did not allow her opponent a single break point instead she won all her break points.
When all was said and done, Radwanska won the match because of her style and technique; she was able to defend her opponents return serves while at the same time she was able to smash a few ground strokes on her own serve. Radwanska
dominated the first and the last set and was able to qualify into the quarterfinal.
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