Na and Zvonareva through to quarter-finals
Li Na, the No.9 seed, is through to the quarter-finals of Wimbledon after a dominating performance over No.7 seed Agnieszka Radwanska.
Na started with a 40-15 service game and followed that up by breaking Agnieszka Radwanska in the following game, needing just one break point. Using her powerful ground strokes the No. 9 seed flew out of the box, surprising her Polish opponent who looked sluggish.
But if that sluggishness was a problem early on, in the fourth game Radwanska recorded her first love service game of the match to settle the nerves. Even though Radwanska held her serve on her next game the signs were there that Na was locked in, hammering the ball to all sides of the court.
Looking sharper than the Pole, Na continued pounding the ball across the court and even when Radwanska tried to change things up Na was equal to it, chasing down drop shots and hitting them for winners.
As a result she took the first set 6-3 in 30 minutes.
Things didn’t improve for Radwanska in the second set immediately losing her serve seemingly unable to cope with Na’s power. But there were signs of life from the Pole in the next game, forcing her first break point of the match. But Na responded with more dominating shots to save the break point and consolidate the break she got in the first game.
As is often the case with the slow-starting Radwanska, she found her feet in the second set and broke Na to level the set at two-a-piece. But seemingly with momentum on her side Radwanska let it slip losing her next service game. Radwanska then had to fight off four break points but eventually succumbed on the fifth as Na once again found her stroke to take control of the match 3-2.
Though she had control of the match Na gave up two break points to Radwanska in the next game before two big serves and a winner down the line gave her a 4-2 lead.
Na continued the big hitting and once again broke the No.7 seed’s serve to go within one game of a quarter-final spot and she served out the match to complete a comprehensive 6-3 6-2 victory in just 67 minutes.
Elsewhere No.21 seed Vera Zvonareva got off to a flying start against No.4 seed Jelena Jankovic, racing to a 4-0 lead in the first set. Despite three double faults in her first two service games, the Russian hit six clean winners to take control against a clearly hurt Jankovic.
But Jankovic came back in the next game to force three break points, eventually taking the third one to get herself on the board. Though she might have broken the No.21 seed Jankovic just couldn’t hold her serve and couldn’t keep up with the hard hitting Russian.
Six unforced errors compared to four winners summed up Jankovic’s set and Zvonareva served out the set for a comfortable 6-1 first set in just 24 minutes.
If Jankovic had a problem Zvonareva wasn’t showing her any sympathy, breaking the Serb yet again in the second set’s first game. While Jankovic added to her unforced error total, the Russian added to her winners with 16 by the end of the second game.
By now Jankovic looked despondent and lost her serve again, serving six double faults and hitting 13 unforced errors.
And at 3-0 down in the second, Jankovic – clearly struggling – retired injured.
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