Saturday, July 27, 2013

Radwanska rallies to reach Stanford semis

   Agnieszka Radwanska looks -- and sounds -- highly vulnerable in the Bank of the West Classic.
   The No. 1 seed from Poland outlasted sixth-seeded Varvara Lepchenko, an American citizen from Uzbekistan, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-3 Friday night at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
   Radwanska rallied from a break down twice in the third set to prevail in 2 hours, 14 minutes.
   "This is my first tournament back on hardcourts, so I'm struggling with a few things," the fourth-ranked Radwanska told reporters. "I wasn't feeling the ball at all. I really wanted to win that match, and I'm happy I did, but I still went out and practiced a little bit afterwards because I really didn't play my best tennis tonight."
   Radwanska will face fourth-seeded Jamie Hampton of Atlanta tonight at 7 (ESPN2) in the second semifinal. Hampton dismissed Russian qualifier Vera Dushevina 6-4, 6-3.
   "I definitely felt better about my game today," said Hampton, who, like Radwanska, played only her second match since Wimbledon. "The ball's coming off nicely -- much, much cleaner -- and I served better, too. It's not where I'd like to be, but it's certainly an improvement."
   Radwanska leads the head-to-head series 4-1, but Hampton won the last meeting 7-6 (2), 6-2 in the first round at Eastbourne on grass about a month ago.
   Hampton, 23, has soared from No. 68 in the world to No. 29 in the past two months and will rise even higher when the new rankings are released on Monday. During that time, she has reached three Premier-level semifinals -- Brussels, Eastbourne and Stanford -- and the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in the French Open. 
   In today's first semifinal (Tennis Channel, 3 p.m.), third-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia will meet fifth-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania.
   The 5-foot-3 (1.61-meter) Cibulkova downed seventh-seeded Urszula Radwanska, Agnieszka's younger sister, 7-5, 6-3 to reach the Bank of the West semifinals for the second time in three years. Cirstea dismissed Olga Govortsova of Belgium 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the semis at Stanford for the second consecutive year.
   The Bank of the West Classic, in its 43rd year, is the longest-running women's professional tennis tournament in the world and the first stop on the road to the U.S. Open in late August. 
BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC
At Stanford
Singles quarterfinals
   Sorana Cirstea (5), Romania, def. Olga Govortsova, Belarus, 6-3, 6-2.
   Dominika Cibulkova (3), Slovakia, def. Urszula Radwanska (7), Poland, 7-5, 6-3.
   Jamie Hampton (4), United States, def. Vera Dushevina, Russia, 6-4, 6-3.
   Agnieszka Radwanska (1), Poland, def. Varvara Lepchenko (6), United States, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-3.
Doubles quarterfinals
   Hao-Ching Chan, Taiwan, and Vera Dushevina (4), Russia, def. Olga Govortsova, Belarus, and Alla Kudryavtseva, Russia, 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5).
   Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia, and Lisa Raymond (3), United States, def. Asia Muhammad and Allie Will, United States, 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (14-12).
Today's schedule
Stadium
(Starting at 12:30 p.m.)
   Hao-Ching Chan, Taiwan, and Vera Dushevina (4), Russia, vs. Julia Goerges, Germany, and Darija Jurak (2), Croatia.
 (Not before 3 p.m.)
   Dominika Cibulkova (3), Slovakia, vs. Sorana Cirstea (5), Romania.
(Not before 7 p.m.)
   Agnieszka Radwanska (1), Poland, vs. Jamie Hampton (4), United States.
   Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears (1), United States, vs. Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia, and Lisa Raymond (3), United States.
Awaiting Hampton in the semis is No.1 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who won a thriller against No.6 seed Varvara Lepchenko in the night match, surviving a flurry of forehand winners and twice coming back from a break down in the third set to prevail in a two-hour, 14-minute nail-biter, 76(2) 36 63.
"This is my first tournament back on hardcourts so I'm struggling with a few things," Radwanska said afterwards. "I wasn't feeling the ball at all. I really wanted to win that match, and I'm happy I did, but I still went out and practiced a little bit afterwards because I really didn't play my best tennis tonight.
"It was a weird match. There were a lot of ups and downs for both of us. But I fought until the end."
The match numbers were Lepchenko-heavy, though Radwanska's numbers were a bit cleaner - the American hit 37 winners to 51 unforced errors (-14), the Pole 16 winners to just 24 unforced errors (-8).
Lepchenko can take solace in the fact that she actually won one more point in the match - 96 to 95.
Radwanska leads Hampton in their head-to-head series, 4-1, but there's a big asterisk there - after losing their first four meetings, Hampton actually won the pair's last meeting in the first round of Eastbourne about a month ago, qualifying and then upsetting the World No.4 in her opener, 76(2) 62.
- See more at: http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/3329126/title/hampton-sets-up-radwanska-rematch#sthash.jmxrI3Na.dpuf
Awaiting Hampton in the semis is No.1 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who won a thriller against No.6 seed Varvara Lepchenko in the night match, surviving a flurry of forehand winners and twice coming back from a break down in the third set to prevail in a two-hour, 14-minute nail-biter, 76(2) 36 63.
"This is my first tournament back on hardcourts so I'm struggling with a few things," Radwanska said afterwards. "I wasn't feeling the ball at all. I really wanted to win that match, and I'm happy I did, but I still went out and practiced a little bit afterwards because I really didn't play my best tennis tonight.
"It was a weird match. There were a lot of ups and downs for both of us. But I fought until the end."
The match numbers were Lepchenko-heavy, though Radwanska's numbers were a bit cleaner - the American hit 37 winners to 51 unforced errors (-14), the Pole 16 winners to just 24 unforced errors (-8).
Lepchenko can take solace in the fact that she actually won one more point in the match - 96 to 95.
Radwanska leads Hampton in their head-to-head series, 4-1, but there's a big asterisk there - after losing their first four meetings, Hampton actually won the pair's last meeting in the first round of Eastbourne about a month ago, qualifying and then upsetting the World No.4 in her opener, 76(2) 62.
- See more at: http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/3329126/title/hampton-sets-up-radwanska-rematch#sthash.jmxrI3Na.dpuf
Awaiting Hampton in the semis is No.1 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who won a thriller against No.6 seed Varvara Lepchenko in the night match, surviving a flurry of forehand winners and twice coming back from a break down in the third set to prevail in a two-hour, 14-minute nail-biter, 76(2) 36 63.
"This is my first tournament back on hardcourts so I'm struggling with a few things," Radwanska said afterwards. "I wasn't feeling the ball at all. I really wanted to win that match, and I'm happy I did, but I still went out and practiced a little bit afterwards because I really didn't play my best tennis tonight.
"It was a weird match. There were a lot of ups and downs for both of us. But I fought until the end."
The match numbers were Lepchenko-heavy, though Radwanska's numbers were a bit cleaner - the American hit 37 winners to 51 unforced errors (-14), the Pole 16 winners to just 24 unforced errors (-8).
Lepchenko can take solace in the fact that she actually won one more point in the match - 96 to 95.
Radwanska leads Hampton in their head-to-head series, 4-1, but there's a big asterisk there - after losing their first four meetings, Hampton actually won the pair's last meeting in the first round of Eastbourne about a month ago, qualifying and then upsetting the World No.4 in her opener, 76(2) 62.
- See more at: http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/3329126/title/hampton-sets-up-radwanska-rematch#sthash.jmxrI3Na.dpuf
Awaiting Hampton in the semis is No.1 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who won a thriller against No.6 seed Varvara Lepchenko in the night match, surviving a flurry of forehand winners and twice coming back from a break down in the third set to prevail in a two-hour, 14-minute nail-biter, 76(2) 36 63.
"This is my first tournament back on hardcourts so I'm struggling with a few things," Radwanska said afterwards. "I wasn't feeling the ball at all. I really wanted to win that match, and I'm happy I did, but I still went out and practiced a little bit afterwards because I really didn't play my best tennis tonight.
"It was a weird match. There were a lot of ups and downs for both of us. But I fought until the end."
The match numbers were Lepchenko-heavy, though Radwanska's numbers were a bit cleaner - the American hit 37 winners to 51 unforced errors (-14), the Pole 16 winners to just 24 unforced errors (-8).
Lepchenko can take solace in the fact that she actually won one more point in the match - 96 to 95.
Radwanska leads Hampton in their head-to-head series, 4-1, but there's a big asterisk there - after losing their first four meetings, Hampton actually won the pair's last meeting in the first round of Eastbourne about a month ago, qualifying and then upsetting the World No.4 in her opener, 76(2) 62.
- See more at: http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/3329126/title/hampton-sets-up-radwanska-rematch#sthash.jmxrI3Na.dpuf
Awaiting Hampton in the semis is No.1 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who won a thriller against No.6 seed Varvara Lepchenko in the night match, surviving a flurry of forehand winners and twice coming back from a break down in the third set to prevail in a two-hour, 14-minute nail-biter, 76(2) 36 63.
"This is my first tournament back on hardcourts so I'm struggling with a few things," Radwanska said afterwards. "I wasn't feeling the ball at all. I really wanted to win that match, and I'm happy I did, but I still went out and practiced a little bit afterwards because I really didn't play my best tennis tonight.
"It was a weird match. There were a lot of ups and downs for both of us. But I fought until the end."
The match numbers were Lepchenko-heavy, though Radwanska's numbers were a bit cleaner - the American hit 37 winners to 51 unforced errors (-14), the Pole 16 winners to just 24 unforced errors (-8).
Lepchenko can take solace in the fact that she actually won one more point in the match - 96 to 95.
Radwanska leads Hampton in their head-to-head series, 4-1, but there's a big asterisk there - after losing their first four meetings, Hampton actually won the pair's last meeting in the first round of Eastbourne about a month ago, qualifying and then upsetting the World No.4 in her opener, 76(2) 62.
- See more at: http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/3329126/title/hampton-sets-up-radwanska-rematch#sthash.jmxrI3Na.dpuf

No comments:

Post a Comment