Radwanska cruises in Stanford opener
Date published :
26 Jul 2011 - 08:00:00
Fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska cruised into the second round of the WTA hardcourt tournament here Monday but eighth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova worked hard to get past Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm.
Poland's Radwanska, ranked 14th in the world, defeated Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-1, 6-2.
"It was a good match," said Radwanska, who is seeking her first WTA title in three years but has enjoyed solid results this season including a quarter-final appearance at the Australian Open and the fourth round at Roland Garros.
"I am very happy to have won my first hardcourt match, and especially under hot conditions. I just wanted to play very good tennis at this tournament."
Radwanska next faces Taiwan's Chang Kai-Chen, who rallied from an early deficit to beat American Hilary Barte 7-5, 6-4.
Slovakia's Cibulkova, ranked 19th in the world, was playing for the first time since falling in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon to Maria Sharapova.
Her 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) victory over Date-Krumm was her eighth win in 10 matches. She hasn't lost more than two matches in a row all season.
But she admitted that she nearly lost her composure after falling behind 5-1 in the tiebreaker.
"I'm a player who really needs to control my emotions," Cibulkova said. "I went a little crazy once I lost my serve at 6-6.
"Throughout the whole tiebreaker, I was off a little bit but I just tried to focus 100 percent."
She managed to hang on, but said it wasn't easy against a player of Date-Krumm's experience.
"It's not easy to play Kimiko," Cibulkova said. "She's a tough opponent. In the first set, I just played aggressively like I should and was going for my shots.
"In the second set, I started to be more careful with my returns and she was more in the game."
Cibulkova booked a match with American Christina McHale, a 6-1, 6-0 winner over Croatia's Mirjana Lucic.
"I just tried to stay solid and steady, play each point with full intensity," McHale said. "I think I'm improving my tennis, which is most important."
Canadian Rebecca Marino defeated American Coco Vandeweghe 6-4, 6-4 to set up a meeting with third-seeded Marion Bartoli of France.
Top seed Victoria Azarenka, No. 2 Maria Sharapova, Bartoli and fourth-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia all have first-round byes.
That's not the case for 13-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, whose ranking has plummeted after she was sidelined for almost a year by a series of health issues ranging from a cut foot that required surgery to life-threatening blood clots.
Williams received a wild card into the event, part of her build-up to the US Open starting on August 29, where she gained entry to the field using her injury-protected special ranking.
Wimbledon was just her second tournament back after an injury layoff of 11 months and she was ousted in the fourth round, an exit that triggered the massive drop in her world ranking.
Williams opens her Stanford campaign against Anastasia Rodionova on Tuesday night.
