Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska has booked her place into the Rogers Cup final for the first time with a tight 7-6(1), 7-6(3) win over Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova.The match was a contrast of styles: Makarova and her left-handed power game with its deep, penetrating, generally flat groundstrokes, versus the tournament’s number three seed, who might be termed by some as a “defensive all-court player” with a wide variety of shots and a deep bag of tricks.Radwanska was often pushed far back behind the baseline by Makarova’s laser-strokes, but she often found a way to turn her defense into offense, showcasing deft touch, a good-looking backhand slice, and a very effective drop shot and lob combo. When rallies looked dire for the Pole, a defensive lob or well-timed slice would buy her enough time to get back onto neutral footing or to transition into an attacking game.Despite the differences in style, there was very little to choose between the two women in the first set. Uncharacteristically for a WTA match, there were no breaks of serve in the opening frame. Makarova was threatened in the tenth game, serving 4-5, but saved two break points, one with a punishing forehand winner, and another with a backhand winner struck with some conviction.

In the tiebreak, however, things fell apart quickly and severely for Makarova. Having played such a tight game until that point, she uncharacteristically made some bad shot selections, with a baffling choice to attempt an overhead smash from the baseline that went well wide, and then following it up with a forehand slice into the net, and a long forehand to set up six set points for Radwanska. The Russian managed to save one of these but made another bad forehand slice into the net to give the set to her opponent.

The second set saw the two women breaking one another twice each to head into another tiebreak. This one got as close as 4-3 for Radwanska before she ran away with the next three points to seal the match in two hours and four minutes. In her post-match press conference, she answered one of our questions about her playing style (whether she was intentionally mixing pace and spin), and her thoughts on the match:

“Well, I think so, especially that she’s a player that also can do everything on court.  Pretty much everything is coming back.  No free points in that match.  That’s why I think two sets over two hours… I think I was just better few points today.”

With her victory, Radwanska avenges the humiliating loss to Makarova in their last meeting, a 6-3, 6-0 pounding in the fourth round at Wimbledon this year. Makarova also dispatched her in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 at last year’s US Open.  Their head-to-head series is now even at three wins apiece.

Radwanska will play another power-hitter in Venus Williams in Sunday’s final, and an arguably more dangerous one than her last opponent. Despite being ranked twenty-one points below Radwanska,  Venus has been playing exceptionally well as of late, beating her sister Serena for the first time since 2009, in three sets in Saturday’s first semifinal 6-7, 6-2, 6-3. Williams has beaten Radwanska in five of their eight career meetings.

 

Khoa Tran/ Front Page News