After falling behind a break in the opening set, Agnieszka Radwanska went on an absolute tear, winning nine unanswered games to race to a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Monica Puig in only an hour and fifteen minutes to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Radwanska Roars Back
Puig would be the one coming out firing. Showing very little ill effects after her epic round two win, she reached break point on Radwanska’s serve in the third game, but an unforced error cost her a chance for an early lead. Puig kept pushing, and Radwanska required a pair of deuces to escape her next service game. While Radwanska was fighting to keep her serve, Puig was holding with relative ease. In the seventh game, Puig finally broke through, break the world number four to fifteen to grab the 4-3 lead.
That was when Radwanska upped her game. Puig would not win a game for the remainder of the match. At 30-30 in the next game, the Puerto Rican missed a smash to give Radwanska break point, which she converted courtesy of an unforced error from Puig. Eager to reclaim her lead, Puig held a pair of break points in the following game, but could not convert. Suddenly, Puig was serving to stay in the set. She missed a pair of game points before Radwanska got a set point. Puig saved the first, but a pair of forehand winners from the Pole sealed the opening set.
Radwanska Cruises
The momentum was firmly in the fourth seed’s corner entering the second set, and she capitalized immediately, breaking Puig and racing to a 3-0 lead. But the Pole did not stop there. She raced to a 0-40 lead on Puig’s serve in the following game, converting the second break point for a double-break lead.
Puig seemed burnt out at this point and had no answer to Radwanska’s assault. She got nothing going on her return and soon found herself serving to stay in the match. Even then, she could do nothing to stop the charging Pole, who broke Puig to love to seal the match.
By the Numbers
The one bright spot for Puig was that she won seventy percent of Radwanska’s second serve points. However, she won less than fifty percent of points on her own first and second serve. The Puerto Rican hit more errors than her Polish opponent, twenty-two to seventeen. However, she more than doubled Radwanska in unforced errors as well, twenty-nine to eleven. Radwanska was strong on break points, converting five of her seven chances, while saving three out of four against her own serve.
Radwanska will take on Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany, who upset Roberta Vinci, with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.