Serena Williams victorious in the pre-quarterfinals – Western & Southern Open 2012
Second seeded American veteran, Serena Williams, prevailed over the Polish underdog, Urszula Radwanska in the third round of the Western and Southern Women’s Open by 6-4, 6-3. Williams qualified for the quarter-final of the
tournament by defeating her rival in 70-minutes on Thursday.
Serena said in an interview after her triumph, “I was out there and I did the best I could today. I was happy to get through that match. It was just energy. I have been playing a lot, been training a lot. Singles and doubles
is a tough schedule. It's just a one-day thing. They are both great players, great sisters. I absolutely love seeing another pair of sisters in the locker room that's doing so well. Urszula has worked really hard, and me being a younger sister and Urszula
being a younger sister, I'm always looking for her to do well and hoping she does really well.”
The 21-year-old Pole started off the match with a decent pace but had to labour hard to equalize her scores against the veteran. Radwanska’s efforts proved fruitful in the eighth game, when the scores turned 4-all. Williams
picked up momentum from there onwards and claimed the final two games with a 6-4 score.
Surprisingly, Williams was not able to secure any aces in the initial set. The Pole exhibited a reasonable first serve percent of 60 and bagged away six of 15 first and five of 10 second deliveries. Williams followed her
rival with a low first serve percentage of 42 and secured six of 10 and six of 11 second serve points.
The second set of the match followed the similar pattern except the underdog was able to break Williams serve after the first game. The former world number one’s pace drastically fell and Radwanska took full advantage by
winning the initial three games and leading the scores by 3-love. However, after the fourth game, the American tennis ace reeled off all the games consecutively, winning the match with a 6-3.
In the final set, none of the players struck any aces but instead the 46th ranked Polish double faulted three times. She improved her first serve percentage to 68 and attained 10 of 17 first serve
points, she was not able to convert any points the second deliveries. Williams successfully consolidated with a moderate first serve of 50 percent, pocketing nine of 13 points in the first and five of 13 in the second delivery.
The Olympic gold medallist eyes on the Cincinnati Masters trophy to reclaim the world number one spot. She will be contesting against the Wimbledon semi-finalist Angelique Kerber in the next round.
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