Maria Sharapova vs. Agnieszka Radwanska: Final preview – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Yet another WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) championship final for the Russian tennis diva, Maria Sharapova, is set in the current season. The world number two will take on the fifth seed Pole competitor, Agnieszka Radwanska,
in the final showdown of the Sony Ericsson Open on Saturday night.
The two top-class athletes will go one-on-one against each other on the outdoor hard court of the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Miami, Florida. A total of 94 world class players became a part of the competitive field at the
Sony Ericsson Open but it is now all up to the two beauty queens to grab the coveted WTA Premier-level trophy.
Former world number one, Sharapova, has been in her prime form this season and her phenomenal game play has propelled her to the second spot in the WTA World Rankings. The 24-year-old Russian has playing her fourth WTA Tour event
of current year and will feature her third final of the season. She has squandered two title opportunities earlier on but is eyeing strongly on the Sony Ericsson Open trophy to end her title drought.
Sharapova came to Miami as the second seed hot favourite and powered her way to the final with resounding victories over all the opponents she faced. She outshined the likes of Shahar Peer, Sloane Stephens, Ekaterina Makarova and
the Chinese number one Li Na in the initial rounds. She went to face-off the other former world number one player, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, in the semi-final battle and wrapped up the three-setter, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, to earn a title shot in the final.
On the other hand, Radwanska has been the fastest rising prospect of the current season; lunging four places up to reach the world number four spot in WTA Premier Rankings. With a 25-4 winning record for the year and a championship
title under her belt, Radwanska is a worth contender for the Miami title. The 23-year-old has already played six tournaments in the current season so far and has gone past the quarter-final round in every event, including a championship victory at the Dubai
Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The fourth seed Radwanska was lucky to get one of the easier draw of the tournament and had no trouble in disposing of the bleak competitors like Madison Keys, Silvia Soler Espinosa and Garbine Muguruza Blanco in the initial rounds.
She faced her first top-class competitor in the quarter-finals, when she went against the former world number one, Venus Williams of the United States. She outplayed the American veteran in straight sets and then stunned the in-form seventh seed French, Marion
Bartoli, in the semi-final to meet the Russian beauty queen in the title round.
Radwanska hasn’t dropped a set en route to the final, whilst Sharapova had to cope with three-setters in two of her matches, including the semi-final against Wozniacki. Although the Russian leads 7-1 against Radwanska in the head-to-head
series and has a six-match winning streak against her, the contest is deemed to be evenly poised. The Pole is in her prime form and has won one championship match earlier this season, while Sharapova has lost the two finals she played in the 2012 season. It
will be a gruelling battle between the two and Sharapova might have slight edge over the Pole opponent.
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