Agnieszka Radwanska recorded her 30th win of the season today in the second round of the Rogers Cup, while Venus Williams bageled her opponent in the second set to make the third round of the Premier-level event in Montreal.
The 2014 Rogers Cup champion Radwanska raced through the first set against fellow trick-shot player Monica Niculescu, quickly going 6-1 up, without even facing a break point. Niculescu won just one point (11%) on Radwanska’s first serve.
The second set was a very different story, full of breaks. The world No.61 Niculescu took advantage of the fourth-seeded Radwanska’s vulnerable second serve, climbed up to a 5-4 lead and earned an opportunity to serve for the set. In that crucial service game, Niculescu had three set points, but a lucky netcord helped Radwanska break back to 5-all and the Pole went all the way to a 6-1 7-5 victory.
The world No.4 Radwanska will face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the Rogers Cup third round, as the Russian beat Christina McHale 6-2 7-5 earlier in the day.
The sixth-seeded Williams entered her today’s encounter with Barbora Strycova knowing that she had never lost to the Czech, but that she did have to save a match point in their last clash. This second round of Montreal, however, didn’t turn out to be a tough one, as Williams rolled past her opponent 6-3 6-0 in just 58 minutes, with the first serve percentage of 81.
Williams’ obstacle for a place in the quarterfinals will be a fellow American, either tenth seed Madison Keys or Madison Brengle.
