Urszula Radwanska bows down to Lucie Safarova in the opening round – Qatar Ladies Open 2012
Urszula Radwanska of Poland crashed out in the opening round of the Qatar Ladies Open at the hands of the Czech, Lucie Safarova. She seemed extremely promising in the qualifiers but didn’t prove her worth against the 28thranked
Czech, who swept her away in an hour and 19 minutes to claim victory. Safarova booked a second round berth with a straight sets win 6-3, 6-4.
Safarova has an impressive record against Radwanska; winning two encounters played previously at the Rogers Cup 2009 and Generali Ladies Linz 2009. She was the hot favourite to win the contest. There was a slight chance for the
Pole to pull up an upset considering her classic run of form in the recent past but the inferior skills level led to her downfall.
The Czech started the proceedings with a successful serve game followed by a series of breakthrough ending the scores at 3-1 in her favour. Both players registered successful serve holds in the following two games; scores progressed
to 4-2 with the Czech having firmly holding on to the lead. Breakpoints were swapped at both ends keeping the lead of the Czech intact with the scores marching on to 5-3. Safarova served for the set and lost just one point on her way to a remarkable set triumph
over the Pole.
It seemed like Radwanska had lost the match in her mind and was just playing to fulfil the formalities in the second set. No extraordinary effort was witnessed from her side that could have turned the proceedings in her favour.
The see-saw battle between the players continued until the first six games of the set.
It was getting ominous for the Pole who lost a vital breakthrough in the seventh game that proved pivotal in deciding the second set. It was depressing to witness such a talented star not putting enough effort to improvise and
shuffle her opponent’s mindset. She was often caught on her heels, standing still and not reading the mind of her opponent; was late on several returns and never looked a strong contender to make a comeback into the contest.
Radwanska lost the match and made her way to the exits with her opponent progressing to the second round of the tournament. Safarova has a monumental task ahead of her as she takes on the likes of former world number one, Caroline
Wozniacki of Denmark, in the next match. Wozniacki was offered a Bye in the opening set so she is still to get off the mark in the contest.
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