The final match of day 3 was by far the most dramatic off the tournament as Agnieszka Radwanska kept her hopes of qualifying for the Semis alive by saving 3 match points to beat Vera Zvonareva, 1-6 6-2 7-5. Zvonareva raced through the first set finishing right where she left off against Wozniacki with some clean, consistent tennis and playing with a much heavier ball than Radwanska. Zvonareva then went walk about in the second set hitting 20 unforced errors and allowing Radwanska back in the match.
The third set featured some of the best tennis of the tournament - one particular rally, which Radwanska won showed how instinctive and crafty she is at the net. It was also highly entertaining purely for the fact to see if Zvonareva was going to totally lose her cool! She looked to have the match under control at 5-3 in the third set, but got broken after wasting three match points with two down-the-line errors. The third match point she was screaming like I had never seen her before and the sheer desperation of finishing this match off became apparent. It is also important to mention that Zvonareva had lost her last three matches to Radwanska in straight sets so this would have been a big win. It never came though as the brick wall of Radwanska kept battling and getting the ball back in court and after wasting her opportunity to serve it out, Zvonareva was mentally spent.
Radwanska can now qualify by winning just a set against Kvitova otherwise Zvonareva will progress. This tournament has displayed the good, the bad and the downright ugly from Zvonareva. She is classed as the epitomy of consistency, but this week she has been extremely inconsistent in all of her matches. With the form that Kvitova is in, I would say it is unlikely Radwanska will get the set she needs and Zvonareva will make the Semis.
Petra Kvitova beat an off colour Caroline Wozniacki, 6-4 6-2 to end Wozniacki's chances of progressing. Kvitova did not face a single break point throughout the match. The first set was not as close as the scoreline suggested as Kvitova dominated proceedings. Wozniacki did well to keep her shots to a solid depth and force the errors from Kvitova. Wozniacki called the trainer after the 1st set citing dizziness. This definitely affected her in the second set as a solid Kvitova did all that was needed of her to claim the win and that place in the semi-finals. It was a anticlimactic match for me and featured very few good rallies so I was disappointed! In the other match, Victoria Azarenka produced another superb performance to completely overwhelm Li Na, 6-2 6-2. There were too many errors from Li, but generally speaking she did not play that badly and was beaten by a much better player on the day.
Friday Predictions:
Stosur to beat Li in 2 sets
Kvitova to beat Radwanska in 2 sets
Azarenka to beat Bartoli in 2 sets
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