Michaella Krajicek edges past Urszula Radwanska in round one – BNP Paribas Open 2012
Michaella Krajicek of Netherland overpowered the Pole wildcard entrant, Urszula Radwanska, to open her account in the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday. The 23-years-old Dutch booked a second round spot after fighting for two hours
and 37 minutes with the Pole who stood firm in her way. Final scores were 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in favour of the Dutch.
These two players once met in the first round of the Torhout tournament in April 2009 and Krajicek pulled up an upset at that time. She was inferior ranked than the Pole but now she is five ranks above her, staying firm at the
80th spot.
Radwanska kicked off the game in an emphatic fashion winning first three games, including a couple of break points. A trade of breakpoints in the following three games kept her lead intact with the scores pushed further to 4-2.
The Pole broke serve in the ninth game for the fourth time in the set to register a lead of one set.
Against the run of play, the second set started in favour of the Dutch who broke her opponent’s serve to take the lead of 2-0. The Pole bounced back with a breakthrough in the fourth game to level the scores at 2-2. No breakthroughs
were witnessed in the following four games with scores progressing to 4-4.
Radwanska was held back on her serve courtesy to a sublime display from the Dutch. Krajicek finally broke serve after wasting a couple of chances earlier in the game. She went on to hold her serve after surviving a bit of pressure
from her opponent. The set scores were tied at one set apiece.
Radwanska once again started the final set in dismal fashion; losing her serve in the opening game but jumped back into the contest with a breakthrough in the fourth game. It was such a classic matchup between the two players that
crowd was pulled to the edge of their seats with a nail biting stuff at their disposal.
A trade of breakpoints kept the scores together and Krajicek registered a successful serve hold with scores progressing to 4-4.
For the third time in the set, Radwanska failed to absorb the pressure and gifted away a critical breakthrough to her opponent who just needed to hold her serve to win the match. The Dutch did the rest and booked a date with the
Chinese superstar, Jie Zheng, in the second round.
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