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By Chris Oddo | Monday September 28, 2015

 
Venus Williams

Venus Williams upended Agnieszka Radwanska for the third time this year, downing the Pole in straight sets to reach the second round in Wuhan.

Photo Source:Zhong Zhi/Getty

Playing a day after winning the title in Tokyo, a worn-down Agnieszka Radwanska was no match for Venus Williams at the Wuhan Open.

More: Road to Singapore Gridlocked after Tokyo

Williams triumphed, 6-1, 7-6(4), to notch her third win of the season vs. Radwanska and put a big dent in the Pole’s Singapore hopes. With her title in Tokyo, Radwanska had moved into 9th in the Road to Singapore standings, but she'll miss out on one of few remaining chances to pick up ground on the leaders because of her early loss.

Williams was fresh and ferocious from the onset, reeling off the first five games of the contest with spot-on aggressive shotmaking. She dropped only two first-serve points in set one and did not face a break point while winning 15 of 25 points against the Radwanska first-serve and breaking on three of five chances.

Williams took an early 2-0 lead in set two, but Radwanska, after a prolonged medical timeout due to an upper left leg/hip injury, started to find her form and kept some scoreboard pressure on Williams.

That pressure paid off in the form of an ill-timed double-fault on break point at 4-5 for Williams, and after levelling at 5-all Radwanska held for 6-5 before the 35-year-old answered with a love hold to force the tiebreaker.

Radwanska took the first mini-break to get to 2-1, but Williams reeled off the next four points to take command of the breaker. Radwanska would rally to close to 5-4 but Williams took the final two points, sealing the victory when a Radwanska squash shot dribbled into the net.

When it was all said and done, Williams had clocked 51 winners to just 14 for Radwanska.

The American will move on to face Julia Goerges in the second round on Tuesday in Wuhan.

Other winners on a busy Monday in Wuhan were Belinda Bencic (d. Tomljanovic, 7-5, 7-5), Karolina Pliskova (d. Lucic-Baroni), 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-6(5)), Sloane Stephens (d. Riske, 7-6(4), 6-3) and Ana Ivanovic (d. Dulgheru, 6-1, 6-3).

Jelena Jankovic and Caroline Garcia were also winners.

Click here for all Wuhan results

Notes, Tweets

Maria Sharapova (left forearm) and Eugenie Bouchard (concussion symptoms) were both forced out of Wuhan today. Sharapova withdrew during the third set of her match with Barbora Strycova; Bouchard elected not to play after feeling symptoms during practice.



 

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