Agnieszka Radwanska strains past Aleksandra Wozniak in round one – Dubai Championships 2012
World number six, Agnieszka Radwanska, saved a major upset by halting the 80th ranked Canadian, Aleksandra Wozniak, in the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Championships. On Tuesday, Radwanska, won the first set comprehensively but failed
to win a second set tie-breaker and bounced back a break down to oust her opponent 6-1, 6-7(6), 7-5 in two hours 32 minutes.
It was the fourth face-off between the two contestants and the Pole held her clean sheet with this triumph. She had already defeated the Canadian qualifier in Stuttgart 2009, Indian Wells 2009 and Wimbledon (juniors) 2005.
The match commenced with Radwanska flying away with a lead of 5-0 in the opening set courtesy a couple of breakpoints. She was in no mood to spare anything at that stage and looked the most devastating players on the court.
Wozniak fought well in the second set and stayed side-by-side her opponent with both players trading breakpoints on three different occurrences. A tie-breaker round was enforced and Radwanska was a hit away from the win but her opponent bounced back and
took the set.
The final set was extremely entertaining. Wozniak never looked an underdog and played extremely well throughout as she broke serve in the fifth game and pushed the scores 5-4 in her favour. She was on the verge of pulling up an upset but Radwanska enjoyed
a critical breakpoint in a do or die situation to save the match.
The momentum swirled in her favour and she broke serve in the 12th game to book a date with the Israeli starlet, Shahar Peer, in the next round.
On her triumph, she said, "Wozniak started to play much better in the second set. The last time I played her was a long time ago, but I saw she passed the qualies here, and she was just running and moving very well, and being very consistent in the second
and third sets. With the wind so strong today it was really hard to finish the points, too. The first match is always a tricky one, so I'm just very happy I could come back in this third set, get through it and win the match."
It will be another tough battle for the Pole against the Israeli contestant who looks like one of the most threatening players on court. She will have to devise a very clever strategy to outfox the Israeli player otherwise she might be on the verge of facing
another upset.
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