Agnieszka Radwanska off to a poor grass court season; losses the opener – AEGON International 2012
Reigning world number three, Agnieszka Radwanska, had a terrible start to the grass-court swing of WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season and suffered an opening round exit at the AEGON International on Tuesday. The top seed Pole
was outdone by a classy display of tennis from the Bulgarian number one, Tsvetana Pironkova, in Eastbourne, United Kingdom. The final score line stood at 6-2, 6-4, in favour of the 40th ranked Bulgarian.
23-year-old Radwanska was riding a five-match winning streak against Pironkova before entering the contest on Tuesday but she was stunned by an all-round onslaught from the Bulgarian, forcing her to submit in the second set of
the match. Pironkova spared just six games for the top seed Pole in the entire contest and wrapped up the proceedings in barely 70 minutes to improve the 2-6 in the head-to-head series against her.
The unseeded Bulgarian had a phenomenal serve game in the match, backing it up with precise return game and pi-point hitting throughout the brawl. Radwanska evenly matched the underdog opponent in most segments of the game but
the vital difference lied in the number of break points being registered from both ends. Pironkova came up with four out of nine break point conversions in the contest, whilst the world number three could only nail one serve break out of her four opportunities
to finish on the losing side in the end.
"I think it wasn't my day today," Radwanska lamented after her humiliating defeat in Eastbourne. "I've played a lot of matches this year and I'm a little bit tired. I was trying everything but she was playing really well, and she
plays really well on grass already, much better than other surfaces - I've played against her a few times before, so I could compare. I think I just prefer hard court, that's for sure."
Pironkova will face off the Canadian qualifier, Stephanie Dubois, up next for a place in the quarter-finals of the AEGON International. Dubois was successful against the unseeded Spaniard, Carla Suarez Navarro, beating her in twin
sets, 6-4, 6-4, in the opening round of the tournament on Tuesday.
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