Agnieszka Radwanska will open up her Wimbledon campaign against Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine. Their first round encounter will follow the Verdasco-Tomic match on the Number 2 Court. Radwanska looks to back up her run to the semifinals last year, whilst Kozlova will make her main draw debut at the All England Club.
Grass-court history
Radwanska is known for her past results on the fast, elegant surface. The Pole’s Wimbledon history includes two quarterfinal losses, two semifinal losses, and one final loss which came back in 2012 to Serena Williams. However, Radwanska’s 2016 grass-court season has not been ideal despite making a quarterfinal in Eastbourne. She lost in her opener in Birmingham to a player who she had never previously lost to in Coco Vandeweghe. Radwanska then headed to Eastbourne to defend her finalist result 12 months ago. She blew a set and a break lead to fall to the eventual champion, Dominika Cibulkova. She may have lost to high-quality players, but the Pole is known for getting the job done no matter who her opponent is, especially on the grass.
Kozlova recently cracked the top-100 for her first time. The Ukrainian made noise in s-Hertogenbosch with wins over Johanna Larsson and Jelena Ostapenko before falling to Madison Brengle in the Ricoh Open quarterfinals. She then made a qualifying appearance at the inaugural Mallorca Open, but she failed to make the main draw after being knocked out by a player outside of the top-140. Kozlova has attempted to qualify for Wimbledon’s main draw twice before, but the Ukrainian was not successful. However, with her new form this year, Kozlova was a direct acceptance into the main draw of the year’s third major.
Analysis
Both players are very fond of the drop shot and slice and the match should be expected to showcase creativity in their shot selections. Nevertheless, the third seed will be the player who executes her shots better as she holds the experience and consistency that her 22-year-old counterpart does not possess. Radwanska will control her own destiny come Tuesday as all she must do to advance is play her nifty, crafty tennis and force Kozlova to hit as many balls as possible to break down the Ukrainian’s groundstrokes. Kozlova also lacks the same level of defensive skills as the world number three does.
The Radwanska angles and variety will be too much to handle for the world number 97. Considering the circumstances she is up against, the most Kozlova can possibly do against the third seed is to focus on the depth of her shots from her serve to her groundstrokes. If the Ukraine-native can maintain keeping the ball deep in the court, her opponent will be more on her back foot rather than be dictating play inside of the baseline.
Prediction: Agnieszka Radwanska defeats Kateryna Kozlova in straight sets