Urszula Radwanska’s cameo ended by Irina Falconi in the third round – AEGON Classic 2012
Pole tennis prodigy, Urszula Radwanska, had a promising start to the AEGON Classic tournament but couldn’t go past the third round. Her cameo was halted by the 22-year-old American opponent, Irina Falconi, on Thursday, when the
86th ranked ousted her in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, to advance to the quarter-final draw.
Local crowd at the grass courts of the Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham, England, witnessed a stiff battle between the two young guns of the tennis world. Radwanska posted a solid resistance in the opening set of the match but
eventually lost her steam to let Falconi get the better of her. Her aggressive game play backfired at him, as the Pole contender spilled a number of unforced errors in search of clinching winners throughout the contest.
The 21-year-old defeated Falconi earlier this season in Nottingham but it was the payback time for the American, who fully capitalised on the error-ridden game of Radwanska to level the head-to-head series at 1-1. The Pole evenly
met the belligerence of Falconi in all segments of the contest but the vital difference lied in the number of break points being registered from both sides. She had 15 break opportunities but cashed in just four of them to finish on the losing side, whilst
the 22-year-old American nailed seven out of 13 break points to come out as the winner.
Fierce battle was witnessed in the opening set, with both youngsters labouring hard to gain some initial momentum. Radwanska won the toss to serve first and held her opening two serves, followed by a cracking break point to lead
3-1. Her early strike ignited a series of break points in the match and total of seven serve breaks were traded from both ends before Falconi bagged the opener at 7-5.
The American sustained her winning impetus in the following set as well and two early breakthroughs propelled her to 3-0 in no time. Radwanska made her last attempt to remain alive in the competition and broke the American serve
in the fourth game to curtail the deficit but Falconi still remained in the driving seat. Conventional game play in the following two games took the scores to 5-3 in the American’s favour before she delivered the decisive blow in the ninth game to conclude
her victory at 6-3.
Falconi will face her compatriot, Melanie Oudin, in the quarter-final round of the AEGON Classic on Friday.
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