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By Erik Gudris/Tuesday, January, 21, 2014
With captivating precision, Agnieszka Radwanska upset
defending champion Victoria Azarenka to reach the
Australian Open semifinals.
Photo Credit: Corleve
Agnieszka Radwanska has long been
admired for her perfect touch and clever court skills. But she
likely earned even more fans after she raised her special style
of tennis to a whole new level during her Australian Open
quarterfinal meeting against two-time defending champion
Victoria Azarenka.
After losing the last 10 sets she contested and having not
beaten her opponent since 2011, another inevitable ending
looked in store for Radwanska. But that perception changed
quickly once the match began.
Radwanska took advantage of Azarenka mistiming multiple shots
to secure an early lead in the first set. The crafty Polish
star then began to weave a web of drop shots, lobs and
well-placed groundstrokes to extend her advantage to 5-0.
A frustrated Azarenka managed to get a single game on the
board. But it wasn’t enough to stop Radwanska who struck a near
perfect drop shot to close out the set 6-1.
But with Azarenka leading their overall head to head 12-3, a
turnaround of fortunes felt inevitable. So it came with
Azarenka finally holding serve after a long game for 1-0. But
that didn’t mean the unforced errors from Azarenka’s racquet
had stopped. With 26 by this juncture in the match, Azarenka
still couldn’t put her stamp of authority over Radwanska.
That moment finally came though midway through the set.
Azarenka, starting to swing more freely, reeled off eight
straight points to take a 4-3 lead. Though Radwanska stayed
level, she started having more trouble dealing with Azarenka’s
pace of shot even after they found themselves knotted at 5-all.
Azarenka dug in and appeared not ready to enter a tiebreak.
A forehand return winner from Azarenka sealed the 7-5 second
set with momentum firmly in her favor.
The best was yet to come from Radwanska. A long Azarenka
service game at the outset of the third set saw the Belarusian
try to out drop shot Radwanska. That didn’t work and soon
Azarenka found herself down 0-2 thanks to yet another shot of
hers that sailed long. Angry, Azarenka smacked a ball that
earned her boos from the crowd.
With the error count now at 42 for Azarenka, she began to
unravel as Radwanska’s game rose in sheer sublime perfection.
Seemingly everywhere on court, Radwanska pulled off this
amazing series of gets in the fifth game.
At last, it seemed all of Radwanska’s work to perfect a game so
elegant to watch, yet so difficult to master would pay off in a
long coming yet satisfying win.
That it did soon enough as Azarenka threw in a double fault to
give Radwanska another break of serve. Radwanska calmly then
served out the remarkable 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 win that perhaps goes
down as one of the best performances of her career.
Minutes after, a delighted Radwanska posted this message on
Twitter that properly summed up her feelings.
!!!!!!!!!
— Aga Radwanska (@ARadwanska) January
22, 2014
“I mean, this is for sure one
of the greatest matches at the slam, especially here. I did
couple times quarterfinal. Few times was pretty close, even
against her few years ago. Like I’m saying, she’s playing great
tennis here. I think, you know, especially the third set was
unbelievable. I really cannot complain about anything,” Radwanska
said later about finally beating Azarenka after so many
tries.
Radwanska now enters the Australian Open
semifinals for the first time in her career. She will next face
No. 20 seed Dominika Cibulkova who earlier
defeated Simona Halep in straight sets.
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