Agnieszka Radwanska eases past Li Na in the semi-final clash – Apia International Sydney 2013
Top seeded Pole contender, Agnieszka Radwanska, registered another thumping straight sets victory in the new WTA season after dumping the Chinese number one, Li Na, in the semi-final round of Apia International Sydney. The world
number four, Radwanska, wrapped up her win at 6-3, 6-4, taking one hour and 32 minutes to earn another title shot in the final of the WTA International tournament in Sydney, Australia.
An all-round onslaught from the top seed caught Li Na by surprise right from the beginning. The world number six has been victorious against Radwanska in their last three encounters and was rated as the hot favourite for winning
the Thursday’s semi-final. Li Na led 5-3 in the head-to-head series prior to the match but her winning streak was brutally crushed by Radwanska, who now holds a 4-5 record against the Chinese number one.
Radwanska was off to a flyer in the opening set, breaking Li Na in the very first game of the match to impose a 2-0 lead right away. She held onto her lead in the remaining part of the opener and closed it out with another break
of serve in the ninth game, settling the set at 6-3.
More competitive tennis was witnessed in the following set and three back-to-back break points were registered from both sides, taking Radwanska to 4-1 in the end. The top seed was serving for the match in the ninth game but Li
Na delayed her triumph with her second break points conversion of the day. However, the Pole number one finished off the proceedings in the very next game.
Li Na didn’t play her best tennis on Thursday and kept spilling plenty of unforced errors throughout the contest. She delivered merely 59 per cent of her first serve on target and coughed five double faults on crucial moments of
the match. She could secure 24 out of 43 first serve points, whilst Radwanska surpassed her with 30 out of 45 points. The fourth seed Chinese crafted six break points in the match but only converted two of those priceless opportunities to finish on the losing
side. Five out of 12 cracking break points from Radwanska proved sufficient to propel her to victory in style.
Tags: