Urszula Radwanska and Kristina Barrois advance at the 2011 Estoril Open
World number 141, Urszula Radwanska stunned fourth seeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-1 on Monday to reach the second round at the 2011 Estoril Open in Portugal.
Radwanska, who is in decent form over the last few weeks, will be feeling very confident after downing a much higher ranked player. In her previous Women’s Tennis Association appearance at Fes, Radwanska defeated Karolina Pliskova,
Maria Joao Koehler and Catalina Castano before she fell to Eleni Daniilidou. The Polish tennis-pro has certainly carried over her good form into this tournament as well as she came back from a set deficit to upset one of the favourites of this competition.
Sevastova started off in a bright fashion. She looked in great touch in the opening set as she broke the serve early to dent her opponent’s confidence levels. The 21-year-old did not allow the challenger to breath in the opener
as she held on to her serve games to take the set score lead 1-0.
With an early serve break in the second set, Sevastova strengthened her grip over the contest even further. The Latvian tennis player looked to be cruising to a comfortable win leading the game score at 4-3. However, Radwanska
had other ideas. The 20-year-old displayed crafty tennis and made a double serve break to take the set into tie-breaker. She then showed her class and temperament as she clinched four straight points in the tie-breaker to force the match into the decider set.
Radwanska completely overshadowed her opponent in the final set as she required dropped only a game in the set to complete her deserving victory after 2 hours and 33 minutes of an exciting play. Sevastova lost her focus and committed
a number of unforced errors in the set which allowed Radwanska to play her natural game freely. Radwanska was quick to spot the scoring opportunities and converted most the chances.
In pursuit of her first WTA title, Radwanska achieved an impressive 67 first serve conversion with her strong and accurate serves. She dominated the challenger in the serve return department as well claiming 50 per cent of the
points. Her wonderful backhand and forehand shots made the challenger run for her money as she made a strong come back to book a second round berth at the red clay courts tournament.
In another match, German Kristina Barrois eased past Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-1 to move ahead at the WTA Estoril Tennis Championships.
Barrois looked to attack right from the first game. She broke the serve early in the opener to gain the psychological advantage in the contest. Barrois took the set with a brilliant forehand winner down the line.
The German tennis-pro continued to pressurize her opponent in the following set as well as she secured six out of seven games to wrap up the match.
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