EASTBOURNE, England—I’ve formulated an ambitious plan for Tuesday at the AEGON International: I’m going to try to watch at least some of the matches played by the top three seeds in the WTA draw—Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova, and Caroline Wozniacki. In the end, I watch as all three are dismissed by lower-ranked opponents.
Kvitova, who is reminded at least as often as we are that she is the defending Wimbledon champion, opens the day’s play on Centre Court against Ekaterina Makarova. Makarova is a former champion here and has beaten seven Top 20 players on these courts over the years; arguably, she is the toughest first-round opponent Kvitova could have drawn. The Czech starts beautifully and serves for the set at 5-4, but her early fluidity and confidence disappears, and her forehand leaks errors to be broken back. A couple of games later, she puts a down-the-line backhand long to lose the set, 7-5.
Having been played into the match by her opponent’s many errors, Makarova is quick to seize her opportunity. Pressed hard on serve early in the second set, the Russian unerringly targets Kvitova’s forehand whenever she is break-point down, eliciting errors. Kvitova looks increasingly miserable and is broken in short order. While she finds a flurry of those magnificent winners to break back as Makarova serves for the match, a double fault and poor backhand in Kvitova's next service game open the door again. After scampering in to wrong-foot Kvitova and a strong return, Makarova eventually wins 7-5, 6-4, sending the Wimbledon champion off to SW19 a little earlier than expected.
There is no time to repine over the loss, however, because over on Court 1, Radwanska is playing Tsvetana Pironkova. Pironkova has never progressed beyond the second round here in six attempts, which is surprising when one recalls that she’s beaten Venus Williams twice at Wimbledon (to reach the quarterfinals in 2011 and the semis in 2010). One does not think about the dainty-looking Pironkova as anything approaching a power hitter, and indeed she’s always struggled with slicing her forehand rather than hitting through it. But she had no problems using that side to dictate play today.
As I arrived, Radwanska was serving at 2-3 in the first set, as the Bulgarian ran her from side to side. The world No. 3 is generally considered a crafty player with a bulging bag of tricks, but it was Pironkova who took the initiative, throwing in a short slice and volleying behind it to take the first break of serve. Two games later, Pironkova strikes a clean forehand winner for a set point, then a return winner down the line to take the first set, 6-2.
In her post-match press conference, Radwanska said that she felt tired after all the matches she has played this year to reach her career-high ranking, and she looks uncomfortable, dispirited and slow on court. I was looking forward to appreciating her game close up, but I’m sitting courtside and it’s nowhere to be seen. After a brief resurgence in the second set, Radwanska's poor serving lets Pironkova—who would win the match, 6-2, 6-4—dominate the rallies and break back immediately for 2-2. But I can’t stay, because over on Centre Court there’s another upset brewing: Wozniacki has lost the first set to Christina McHale, 6-1.
Joining the match at the beginning of the second set, I can immediately see how McHale—who already has one win over Wozniacki under her belt—managed to dominate the first set so conclusively. The two are similar in so far that both are more conspicuous for a tireless work ethic and competitive spirit than a particular ’big shot’, but McHale today is doing one thing that Wozniacki can’t, or won’t: taking the ball early on her forehand, flattening it out, driving the ball deep, and going for winners. The American is also consistently attacking down the lines, something Wozniacki does reluctantly, if at all.
Watching how a similar player has improved her forehand and aggressive instincts underlines the lack of similar improvement in Wozniacki’s game since she reached No. 1, but the Dane is still a top player, and she plays a delightfully cagey rally to break and lead 3-2. There’s a noticeable change in Wozniacki's service stance today, placing her right foot—very deliberately—further behind her to widen her stance and obliquely change the angle at which she stands to the baseline. She says afterwards that the change 'just has to click', but as the match progresses, she’s spinning more and more serves in. McHale is quick to pick up on the change, landing deep forehand returns to break back for 5-4, but also making more unforced errors. It’s one too many, a backhand wide, that loses her the second set in a tiebreak, 9-7.
One thing that McHale does magnificently today, however, is to stick to her guns. Breaking early in the third to lead 2-1, she continues to go for her shots, even when a poor game leads to Wozniacki recovering the break. At 4-4, McHale drags Wozniacki in to the net and passes her, then plays another punishing rally and puts the ball too low for the Dane to handle, earning three break points. McHale breaks, but it’s a struggle to serve out the match, as Wozniacki finally hits out on her forehand whenever she is down match point. On McHale's fourth match point, earned with a pair of blinding winners, she crosses the finish line—6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-4—after two and a half hours in the Eastbourne sun, for the third big upset of the day.
It’s not the grass court preparation that any of these three seeds would have wanted, and it’s left to Marion Bartoli, the No. 4 and sole survivor of the top-seed slaughter, to point out that, ‘There is [sic] a lot of examples of players losing very early here and going all the way in Wimbledon.’ The reverse is also true: If you look at the names of recent Eastbourne champions, you have to go back to 1998 and Jana Novotna to find a player who has done the double.
In a stacked field like this one, there are no easy matches, no soft opponents against whom the top seeds can work their way into the tournament. For the likes of Makarova, Pironkova, and McHale, there are only opportunities.
Hannah Wilks is a frequent contributor to TENNIS.com. You can read more of her Grass-Court Reports here.