Angelique Kerber slays Urszula Radwanska to reach the quarter-finals – Toray Pan Pacific Open 2012
World number six, Angelique Kerber, exhibited another top notch performance to annihilate the 21-year-old Pole tennis prodigy, Urszula Radwanska, in the third round of Toray Pan Pacific Open on Wednesday. The German number one
took barely 47 minutes to register a double-breadstick, 6-1, 6-1, booking a berth in the quarter-final round of the WTA Premier-level event in Tokyo, Japan.
It was the first encounter between these two contenders and Kerber took no time in getting under the skin of the Pole youngster. The fifth seed German dropped merely two games in the entire matchup, bettering Radwanska in every
segment of the contest. She had a solid baseline defence, coupled with precise ground strokes, throughout the matchup and cashed in most of his opportunities to come out as the winner.
Kerber took off the opener with a cracking break of serve, lunging to a 2-0 lead right away. Radwanska could hold her serve only once in the third game before the German launched her all-round onslaught, nailing successive break
points in the fifth and seventh games to take the opener at 6-1.
She carried on with her winning impetus in the following set as well and two more break point conversions in fourth and sixth game took her to an unassailable lead of 5-1. She served out of the match comprehensively to enter the
round of eight at the Pan Pacific Open.
Albeit Kerber’s average 55 per cent first serve precision, she never allowed her opponent to nail a single break in the entire matchup. The German bagged away 15 out of 21 first serve points and converted five out of nine break
chances en route to victory. A total of 79 points were played in the match, with Kerber securing 55 and Radwanska lagging far behind at a mere 24.
A huge challenge lies ahead of Kerber in the quarter-finals, as she has to go one-on-one against the belligerent world number one, Victoria Azarenka, for a place in the semis. The top seeded Belarusian sidelined the Italian veteran,
Roberta Vinci, 6-4, 6-2, in the third round of the tournament on Wednesday’s eve.
Tags: