Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Petra Kvitova: Quarter-final Preview – Dubai Tennis Championships 2013
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships have entered the quarter-final stage and only four players are to qualify for the semis. In Friday night’s crunch game, world number four, Agnieszka Radwanska, will go one-on-one against the
eighth ranked Czech contender, Petra Kvitova.
Radwanska has been in a fine form this season and has already bagged two WTA championship titles till date. She has faced merely two defeats in 2013 circuit and has won 18 matches in total. The Polish number one took off her Dubai
campaign against the Kazakh wildcard entrant, Yulia Putintseva, on Wednesday. She posted an assertive 7-5, 6-3 victory in the second round to make through to the quarter-finals.
On the other hand, sixth seed Kvitova started her voyage from the first round and devastated the former world number five, Daniela Hantuchova, 6-2, 6-1. She had a stiff battle against the former world number one, Ana Ivanovic,
in the second round but eventually came out as the winner at 7-5, 7-6(1), to book a date with Radwanska in the round of eight.
"She likes to play here - she won last year," Kvitova said about her match against Radwanska. "Last time I played her was in Istanbul and I lost, so I'm looking for revenge, for sure, but it will be a very tough match. She's a
really smart player and is thinking a lot on the court, so she knows exactly what she has to play and where I will play. I have to play my game and not have a lot of mistakes if I want to win tomorrow."
Kvitova currently leads 3-1 against Radwanska in the all-time head-to-head combats. However, their last encounter in 2012 resulted in a straight sets victory for the Pole contestant. Radwanska might be down in the head-to-head
series but her form has been absolutely brilliant since the beginning of 2012 and all the defeats she suffered at the hands of Kvitova came prior to that. She will be eyeing to lift the title in Dubai and she has to hunt down the Czech left-hander on Friday
to continue her journey to glory.
With the world number one, Serena Williams, and the second ranked Belarusian, Victoria Azarenka, out of the tournament due to their injuries, the tournament has opened up for other players. It rarely happens that any other player
wins the title when these two big guns are playing any tournament. Their absence has left Radwanska the highest seeded contestant in the tournament draw and she will surely like to cash in this opportunity to increase her title count.
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