Ivanovic paralized against Radwanska, loses to her for the seventh consecutive time

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Wilson Blade 9

Agnieszka Radwanska scored a decisive 6-2 6-4 victory over Ana Ivanovic to move into the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, but the score provides a misleading picture about the match – Radwanska’s defense and versatile game were superb, but what gave her such a clear-cut win were Ivanovic’s persistent mistakes in all the crucial moments of the match, on break and game points. There were dozens of chances where Ivanovic could have overturned the result or at least taken the match to the third set, but she spoiled every hard-earned opportunity, that she had thanks to her great winners and huge fight, with some apparent mental block and fear of Radwanska to whom she has now lost seven straight matches.

The 2008 Roland Garros champion Ivanovic earned two break points in the opening game of the match, but converted neither of them and in the following game, that had about eight deuces and ended in the twentieth minute of the match, Ivanovic succumbed on the third break point and soon found herself trailing 3-0. There was a hope for a revival in the second set which Ivanovic started by breaking Radwanska, but she dropped her serve right away in the following game, and then again to trail 4-2. Despite offering her fans a small hope after recovering to 4-4, in the tenth game of the set, serving to stay in the match, Ivanovic dropped to 0-40 and on the second Radwanska’s match point she double faulted.

Radwanska’s quarterfinal opponent will be last year’s Roland Garros runner-up Sara Errani, who defeated Carla Suarez Navarro 5-7 6-4 6-3 in the previous match on Court Suzanne Lenglen. The first known quarterfinal pair features Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova, while the other two we will know after Monday’s action. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

5 COMMENTS

  1. I can totally dig Aga beating Ivanovic – it seems like a reasonable result considering all the factors. But what worries me now is how she’s going to deal with Errani next.

  2. I was left feeling very deflated after this match having tipped Ivanovic to win it. It was Radwanska’s best match in quite sometime and her trickery completely got in Ivanovic’s head, who as you mention did not play the key points at all well. I think it will be a really tough one to get over but hopefully she can come back fighting on the grass…

  3. I’m glad that Ana played well, but it’s unbelievable how bad she played on crucial points. It was a good match overall, better than the result shows, and Aga absolutely deserved to win, which is kind of justified by the shot that Gregoire showed via the link.

  4. Every time it looks like Ana is “back” she blows up. At least now it’s versus a top 10 opponent. The stats for the match tell the tale – 9 double faults to 1, 33 unforced errors for Ana to only 5 by Radwanska. The sum of those is a 36 point differential in just 2 sets. The only stat Ana won was speed of serve. She blamed her serve and was probably correct, but she is still a mental case in big matches. She should consider the future before she gets too old for modeling. At 6’1″ with her “looks” she could be a star! In tennis she is probably maxed out, unless she can rid herself of fear and over- thinking her game (she should read “Zen and the Art of Archery” to start). I hope for and wish her the best.

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