Agnieszka Radwanska upsets Francesca Schiavone in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Former top ten Pole Agnieszka Radwanska stunned third seed Italian Francesca Schiavone on Wednesday to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2011 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. She registered a 6-1, 6-3 win over the Italian .
22-year-old Radwanska crushed the Italian, ranked 10 places above her in the WTA Premier rankings, for a straight set second-round victory in eighty-eight minutes at Porsche Arena. Though Schiavone had won their first four matches,
the Polish earned the victory for second time to lower the trail in their head-to-head series by 2-4.
The Pole is in good shape this season and made a quarter-final berth at Melbourne Grand Slam, Dubai and Miami. She kept her spark at Stuttgart as she booked a place in last eight here as well. Radwanska triumphed over American
Jamie Hampton with a bagel in first set.
In the opening set, the lower ranked Pole produced an acceptable first serve share of 55 percent as compared to Schiavone’s slightly higher 57 percent. She also registered an impressive 67 percent win on it and clobbered zero double
faults. Radwanska lost an early serve but she broke the Italian’s serve four times to earn a breadstick.
She stormed into the second set and held her serve in the first game spectacularly. She carried her momentum and with her quick forehands and backhands from her arsenal of skills, Radwanska held her remaining serves plausibly.
The unseeded player earned an amazing 93 percent win on her first serve Share and converted one out of two breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to clinch the set with a convincing 6-3 score line.
The 30-year-old seed on the other side of net hasn’t had much progress this season and the highest she reached was at Australian open where she made a quarter-final berth. She played poorly throughout the match and committed several
unforced errors and five double faults. The Italian didn’t capitalise on her higher first serve share and found only two breakpoint opportunities as opposed to her opponent’s ten.
Radwanska will next face German wild card Kristina Barrois who upset eighth seeded French Marion Bartoli in straight sets to reach this spot.
"This is a huge success, because I was the complete outsider," said Barrois. "I have nothing to lose again now (against Radwanska)."
The German converted four out of eleven breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to seal the match with a 6-4, 6-2 victory in eighty-five minutes.
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