Agnieszka Radwanska overpowers Maria Sharapova to claim the title – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Another huge victory for the Pole tennis sensation, Agnieszka Radwanska, as she outplayed the reigning world number two, Maria Sharapova, in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open on Saturday night. The fifth seed Pole battled for
one hour and 44 minutes to wrap up her emphatic victory in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4, to lift her second WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) championship title of the season.
Radwanska finally ended the six-match head-to-head winning streak of Sharapova against her and improved her record to 2-7 after her victory in Miami, Florida. The 23-year-old Pole was on the roll on this Saturday night and beat
the three-time Grand Slam champion in every segment of the game. Her pin-point hitting was far superior to the error-ridden game play of Sharapova, who kept spilling out miss-hit strokes to award easy points to her opponent.
"I lost against her the last few times, but today was a very tight match too, and I think I was better for just a couple of points each set," Radwanska said. "Maria is a really good player - a top player, second in the world right
now. So I had pretty much nothing to lose. I was focusing on my serve, and I'm very happy I didn't lose my serve - I think it was actually the biggest key in this match. It's a great feeling to beat these kinds of players, especially in a final."
The fifth seed Pole delivered 71 per cent of her serve on target, bagging 40 out of 52 first serve points in the contest and equally backing it up with her exceptional return game. She converted two of the four break opportunities
to dismantle Sharapova in straight sets, while the Russian utterly failed to register any serve break in the entire matchup, frittering away three vital chances to finish on the losing end in the end.
The opening set witnessed some gruelling tennis action from both sides and the scores kept ticking on even terms. No serve breaks were seen in the opening 11 games of the match and it appeared as if a tie-breaker round was about
to come in the play. An all-important serve break in the 12th game turned the course of the first set, with Radwanska winning it at 7-5 to get 1-0 in the match.
The following set progressed in the similar fashion, with both competitors holding their serves throughout. Radwanska again broke in the 10th game to close out her championship victory at 6-4, lifting the Miami Masters
trophy.
Tags: