Agnieszka Radwanska makes quick work of Ekaterina Makarova in opening round – New Haven Open 2011
Number five seed Agnieszka Radwanska made a perfect start at 2011 WTA New Haven Open in United States as she eased past Russian challenger Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 6-2 to book her place in the second round on Monday.
Radwanska has been in terrific form over the last couple of months or so. At 2011 Roland Garros, she made it to the fourth round on the clay courts. At Stanford, she reached the quarterfinal where she lost to German Sabine Lisicki.
However the real success arrived at 2011 Carlsbad for her where she upset world number three Vera Zvonareva to claim fifth Women’s Tennis Association title of her career.
Just over a couple of weeks ago, the Polish made it to the semi-final of 2011 Toronto. If she can maintain her current level of play all the way to the final stages of this tournament, she has a great chance of lifting her sixth
WTA trophy. Ranked 13th in the world, Radwanska displayed some high quality tennis throughout her opening match that lasted for only one hour on the hard courts of Connecticut. Dropping only three games, she did not allow her opponent to breathe
as she completed an emphatic straight sets victory.
Looking to establish control over the contest, Radwanska made a strong start to the match. Breaking her opponent early in the opening set, she raced to a 3-1 lead. Makarova, in contrast, looked completely out of sorts as she struggled
to get any timing on her forehand and backhand shots what so ever. Presenting easy scoring opportunities to Radwanska, she was unable to get momentum on her side.
Radwanska continued to play aggressively and she broke the serve regularly to take an impassable lead. The 22-year-old had no problems holding on to her serve games either as she earned the set score lead 1-0.
The second set followed a pretty similar trend with Radwanska asserting dominance over her rival in almost all aspects of the game. Although she suffered a break on one of her service games, she continued to play her natural game
freely and successfully put the pressure back on Makarova. Dashing a ferocious forehand winner down the line, she took a health 5-2 lead in the set to serve for the match. Claiming her next serve game with ease, she made it to the second round of WTA tournament.
Hitting 6 serve aces and 67 per cent first serve, Radwanska’s strong and accurate serving proved to be the real difference between the two players. Makarova struggled in every department of the game and she made too many unforced
errors. She will be hoping to learn from her mistakes and comeback strongly on her next WTA appearance.
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