Things haven’t been going too well for Agnieszka Radwanska on American hard courts this season: She’s been beaten convincingly by Li Na twice, and was forced to retire last week in New Haven. It didn’t look like things were going to get any better today, as she trailed Carla Suarez Navarro by a set and a break, but with the tenacity associated with her—and aided by something resembling a choke from her opponent—Radwanska crafted and ground her way to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory to reach the third round.
It’s no less than we expect from Radwanska. From Suarez Navarro, on the other hand, who knows what to expect? Suarez Navarro is talented, injury-prone, capable of deep and unexpected runs—she has two Slam quarterfinals on her record—and streaks of first-round losses. Currently ranked No. 39, Suarez Navarro started like a world-beater against a listless Radwanska, stepping inside the baseline to dictate almost every rally with a simple formula: Hit flat and hard to the Pole’s backhand, and high and heavy to her forehand. Radwanska tends to struggle to generate pace when the ball bounces high to her forehand, and with an injured shoulder it’s even harder. After squandering an early break when she led 4-2, Suarez Navarro broke again with relative ease to take the first set. She carried that momentum into the early stages of the second, quickly breaking Radwanska for a 2-1 lead as another high ball elicited another forehand error.
To her credit, Radwanska clearly had a plan to counter Suarez Navarro’s aggressive baselining: Come to net as often as possible, either looking for a volley or to draw the Spaniard into a cat-and-mouse, dropshot-and-lob exchange of the kind at which she excels, and she stuck to that plan throughout the match, coming to net 32 times. It didn’t work for the first set-and-a-half because Suarez Navarro was moving so well and seemingly reveling in picking Radwanska off with passing shots, but she stuck to her guns. The match turned with the Pole serving down 1-3 in the second set. Staring down the barrel of a double-break deficit, Radwanska hit a great first serve and then cracked a forehand winner into the corner.
It was a simple point, but difficult to produce under pressure; a champion’s point, and Radwanska’s confidence rose as Suarez Navarro’s plummeted. Radwanska broke back by working hard to keep every ball on her backhand and every backhand deep, and Suarez Navarro’s feet, which had been flying across the court earlier in the match, suddenly seemed stuck in cement. From dictating every point, Suarez Navarro suddenly didn’t seem to be doing much of anything, and Radwanska’s net-rushing started to pay off.
After breaking and serving out the second set, Radwanska promptly broke Suarez Navarro at love to start the third as the Spaniard made a horror show of a relatively simple smash. Her legs gone, Suarez Navarro couldn’t hold serve once, and Radwanska finished the match with all the confidence and vigor she was lacking at the start. She will face Jelena Jankovic in the third round.
