Radwanska and Venus Williams Battle Through To The Third Round In Cincinnati

In her first tournament match since her surprise first round defeat in the Olympics tennis competition at Wimbledon earlier this month, Agnieszka Radwanska had a rough day at the office this morning when she took on the hard hitting Swede, Sophia Arvidsson, in sweltering heat and stifling humidity.

Although the final score line of 6-4 6-3 seems like a straight forward victory, Radwanska really had to battle on three fronts – an opponent who broke her and took an early lead in both sets before being hauled back by the Pole’s sheer determination; a below par game by her standards in which she hit far too many errors for her perfectionist style of play; and the weather, which seemed to wear her down far more than she admitted in her on court interview at the conclusion of the match.

For the second time in two days, Venus Williams had to go to a third set to make it safely through to the third round. Playing the up and coming South African, Chanelle Scheepers, who came through on a retirement in the third set against the American Christina McHale in the first round, Venus’ usually impenetrable serve let her down, with Scheepers posting much better stats in this area and also on her break points where she won all four, as opposed to Williams’ none out of two. In typical fashion, Venus regrouped in the second and third sets to break her opponent and eventually win 3-6 6-2 6-3 in an hour and three quarters. She will play the Italian, Sara Errani, in the quarters.

Tags Agnieszka Radwanska Chanelle Scheepers Sara Errani Sophia Arvidsson venus williams