Radwanska eyes Woz showdown
The first round held some dramas for the ASB Classic women’s tennis favourites, but there were no such issues on centre court yesterday with all of the top four seeds progressing.
It was a contrast to the opening round, where top seed Caroline Wozniacki was the only seed to win in straight sets.
Yesterday, she was joined by Julia Goerges and Agnieszka Radwanska, with the Pole still on track to meet her good friend Wozniacki in the semifinals.
The pair have met 17 times, with Wozniacki winning 11, and the likelihood of an 18th showdown increased after Radwanska beat Taylor Townsend 6-3, 7-5 late last night.
Radwanska hit some classic winners, and looked improved after her shaky three-set win over Beatriz Haddad Maia in the opening round.
The 2013 champion has still yet to lose a game in Auckland, and her latest victory booked a quarter-final berth against American qualifier Sachia Vickery.
Also progressing to the quarterfinals is Barbora Strycova, who has been battling more than just her opponents at the ASB Classic.
The Czech third seed has spent six hours on centre court through two matches at the Auckland tournament, requiring marathon efforts to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Throughout, Strycova has been battling sweltering conditions on centre court, but her toughest adversary so far has been the mental aspect of the game.
Slowly but surely, the 31-year-old has learned to control her emotions, with the most recent proof of her progression coming yesterday, where she had to overcome an unexpectedly long clash against Larsson.
Up 6-1, 5-2, Strycova looked set for an easy progression into the next round, but Larsson battled back, taking the second set in a tiebreaker.
However, Strycova refocused, regaining her cool, and eventually earning a 6-1, 6-7, 6-2 victory.
The refreshingly genuine Strycova was pleased with her resilience. “I’m happy I could refocus after the second set — it’s not easy to. It shows that I work really hard — I can win these matches in really tough conditions.”
Strycova still has her angry moments on court, bouncing racquets and smashing balls in frustration. The difference this time, is she can now channel that emotion into bouncing back to win crucial points.
“This is something I’ve worked on in the offseason a lot; I have my mental coaches as well so we work on these things. I was just sitting on the bench and just thinking about what I have to do, and focusing on myself,” Strycova explained.
The Czech world No 23 has now made the quarter-finals three times at the classic, but has never made the final. That could change this year, with a relatively simple quarter-final draw seeing her play world No 103 Su-Wei Hsieh in the next round.
Also facing a player with a threedigit ranking will be second seed Julia Goerges, who cruised into the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Slovakian qualifier Viktoria Kuzmova.
Goerges had struggled in the first round, needing three sets to beat Monica Puig, but she overwhelmed the 19-year-old Kuzmova, hitting nine aces and dominating on first serve to easily progress. She will next face Hercog, ranked 100th in the world.