Agnieszka Radwanska gives Andrea Petkovic the boot; eases into the final – Mercury Open 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011 was the start of the semi final of the Mercury Open 2011. Despite Agnieszka Radwanska’s shoulder injury, she was able to record a 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 victory against Andrea Petkovic at the La Costa Resort and
Spa, Carlsbad, California.
Petkovic won the toss; serving first with a lot of confidence she smashed 2 aces and with a failing precession struck one double fault, whereas, her opponent (Radwanska) was not able to serve an ace and with extreme accuracy struck
zero double faults.
Radwanska’s velocity from the service line was limited because of her shoulder and did not put much effort in the first set, even though she saved fifty percent of her break points; she was only able to succeed in attaining a 33%
of break points faced. The German (Petkovic), on the hand saved 67% of her break points and was able to capitalize on 50% of her opponent’s break points.
The No. 2 seed (Petkovic) won 20 of 34 service points making it an admirable 59% win against Radwanska’s 47% win of the total service points. Petkovic had won an above average 53% of her total return points which were 8 points
more, thus giving her a total 56% win to outfox Radwanska. Petkovic captured eight of the set’s last nine points and wrapped up the opening set.
Following her loss in the first set Radwanska said, “I just thought I really have nothing to lose, she’s playing well. This is the semi-final. I’m just going to play till the end and fight to the last point.”
The second set saw a change of events; the German began to lose concentration and when she trailed 0-4 in the fifth game of the second set, she then ran off the court to the bathroom where she fell sick. However, Petkovic was not
issued a code violation for leaving the game while it was in progress, as she had advised the chair umpire of her condition prior to the match. Petkovic was restricted to winning zero game points while; the number 3 seed (Radwanska) took a lead of 6-0 and
closed served the set.
Across the board; Petkovic had lost the second set miserably, while, Radwanska made a comeback from a set down to take the lead and serve the set by winning almost twice as many points in overall scores of the set (she had attained
39% more in the total service points along with attaining an exceptional 75% in the total return).
Having won a set each, the swift Pole stuck it out in the third set and served 1 ace. Additionally, her precision did not fail her and she struck zero double faults, and succeeded in attaining an exceptional 66% win in total service
points against the 23-year-old German.
Although, the 22-year-old failed to save a single break point opportunity, she was able to convert 2 out of the 3 break points to her advantage. The Pole qualified to the final of the Mercury Insurance Open 2011 in two hours and
twenty minutes by achieving 50% percent of total return points and accomplish 57% of total points.
After the match Petkovic said, “The worst feeling is afterwards when you feel better, you’re like, ‘Was it really that bad? Couldn’t you have pushed through?’ Obviously, when you feel better, you don’t remember how bad you felt
at that point. Today it was OK because I sort of made a little comeback. But today I still felt I could have turned the match around.”
Agnieszka Radwanska will now face the number one seeded Vera Zvonareva final on Sunday the 7th of August 2011.
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