Wozniacki Rallies To Beat Radwanska At WTA Championships
By: James Waterson
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Photo Credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images
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(October 25, 2011) World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki rallied from one set and a break down to defeat Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 at the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships Tuesday.
Radwanska, who has now lost five consecutive matches to Wozniacki, started well as she broke serve in the third game.
She held Wozniacki off until 4-3, when the world’s top player leveled the match. She held to go up 5-4, and then had three consecutive set points on Radwanska’s serve before the Pole stormed back, held and won the next two games.
The World No. 8 broke Wozniacki’s serve in the first and third game of the second set, but she never managed to widen the gap. After leveling the set at 2-all, the Dane ran off the next four games to force a third set.
Although the final set was hotly contested, Wozniacki was the superior player when it mattered. She claimed a 4-2 lead, dropped serve to allow Radwanska to reach 4-4, held and outplayed her opponent to end the match after two hours and 40 minutes.
For the match, Wozniacki had 32 winners to 27 unforced errors, compared to Radwanska’s 35 winners and 39 unforced errors.
Both players approach the game with a similar style, as they are highly mobile and consistent baseliners. But Wozniacki and Radwanska approached the net a combined 74 times, with the Pole winning a higher percentage of those points.
This may have been the match Wozniacki was most heavily favored to win in her group. She is 4-4 against Vera Zvonareva and 3-1 against Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, although the last time they played was in 2010 before the Czech’s rise in the rankings.