Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska reaches Stanford final
Sports Home Tennis News Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska reaches Stanford final
Radwanska has 12 career titles having won back-to-back tournaments to start the year. She beat Yanina Wickmayer 6-4, 6-4 in the Auckland final before destroying Cibulkova a week later.
Written by Agence-France Presse
Updated: July 28, 2013 10:42 AM IST
Stanford:
Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska booked her third final of 2013, routing Jamie Hampton 6-3, 6-2 at the WTA Stanford event to set up a title clash with Dominika Cibulkova.
The last time Poland's Radwanska and Cibulkova met was in the final in January in Sydney, Australia where Radwanska crushed the Slovakian 6-0, 6-0.
Radwanska doesn't think the rematch will be so easy.
"She's not the type of player that I can beat again by a double bagel," said Radwanska, who is 4-0 lifetime against Cibulkova. "I just hope I can play the same tennis that I did today."
Cibulkova also cruised to victory Saturday, winning 6-4, 6-0 over Sorana Cirstea in the other semi-final of the hardcourt tournament.
World number four Radwanska served magnificently Saturday night, especially in the second set where she won 11 of 12 first-serve points.
She fired two aces and won 78 percent of her first-serve points overall in the 71-minute match against Hampton.
"I knew I had to play consistent tennis," she said of her win over Hampton. "I was happy I could play really good tennis and win in two sets."
She clinched the victory on first match point by blasting a serve down the line that Hampton pounded into the net.
The 24-year-old Radwanska, of Krakow, hit a modest 11 winners but she made just seven unforced errors compared to 35 for Hampton.
Cibulkova, who saved all six break points she faced in the opening frame, easily avenged a loss to Cirstea in the quarter-finals of this tournament last year.
The 24-year-old Cibulkova, who is seeking her third career WTA Tour title to go with wins last year on the hardcourts of Carlsbad and Moscow, said she was determined to be aggressive.
"I was not afraid to hit the ball and go for it," said Cibulkova, who is ranked 25th in the world and reached the semi-finals here in 2011 but withdrew from her match against Marion Bartoli with stomach problems.
"I was better in the important points."
On Saturday, she won 61 percent of her first serve points and 62 percent of her second serve points against fifth-seeded Cirstea in the 82-minute match.
Cirstea had five aces in the first set, but made almost double the number of unforced errors as Cibulkova.
Cibulkova blasted a forehand winner down the line to give herself a break point in the fifth game of the second set.
Cirstea then knocked another backhand long to leave Cibulkova serving for the match at 5-0.
Cibulkova clinched it on match point, when Cirstea hammered a forehand long.
"I was making her move more on the important points," Cibulkova said. "I would rather lose the point myself than have her hit a winner."
Tennis Agnieszka Radwanska Jamie Hampton Dominika Cibulkova