Bojana Jovanovski defeats Urszula Radwanska to clinch quarter-final berth at the BMW Malaysian Open
Eighth seeded Serb Bojana Jovanovski defeated Polish wildcard Urszula Radwanska in her second round match at the BMW Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. Jovanovski finished off the thrilling contest at 1-6, 7-5 and 6-4, taking two hours and twenty
minutes.
It was a serve dominated contest throughout, as Jovanovski had an inspiring first serve percentage of 74 with her opponent following her with 69. The 19-year-old Serb had a poor start to the contest, but recovered very skilfully to bounce back from being
one set down. Jovanovski showed her tremendous skills to turn over the tables and clinch a pass to the quarter-finals.
The opening set was an all Radwanska show, as the Pole was superb on serve, having 84 per cent first serve belted on target and winning 16 out of 19 total serve points. Her elegant cross-court strokes were poorly met by her Serb opponent and she clouted
plenty of winners down the line.
Radwanska did not face a single break point in the opener, but got four opportunities from her rival to break. She converted two break points to get to an impassable lead of 5-1 in the first set. The Pole served out of the second set with ease at 6-1.
The Pole carried her winning momentum in the following set, striking a serve break in the third game to lead 2-1. The eighth seed broke back immediately in the next game, levelling the scores at 2-2. Both contestants exchanged break points in the following
two games to take the score to 4-4. Jovanovski lifted her serve percentage to an impressive 83 per cent in the set with Radwanska following her at 58. It proved to be the difference later in the game.
A crucial momentum swing took place in the eleventh game when Jovanovski stung an all important serve break to snatch the second set at 7-5, imposing a third one.
Radwanska was pushed onto her back foot by the aggressive moves of her opponent. The eighth seed Serb came out firing in the decider and raced to 4-1 by early serve break. The Pole broke back in the seventh game, courtesy of a double-fault from her opponent.
Although Radwanska raised her first serve percentage to 73 in the third set, she failed to win serve points. The 20-year-old Polish merely won 48 per cent of her serve points and converted just 44 per cent of total return points.
A third break point by Jovanovski at 5-4 marked an end to Radwanska’s voyage in the tournament, with the Serb teenager advancing to the quarter-finals.
Jovanovski will be taking on the winner of the match between the Aussie Jelena Dokic and Kurumi Nara of Japan.
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