Radwanska subdues Petkovic in a thriller to claim China Open title

Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland claimed her back-to-back WTA title on tour by winning the China Open title at Beijing on Sunday. The Polish rallied past ninth-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany with a 7-5 0-6 6-4 scoreline to win the tremendous title encounter, which lasted for two and half hours.

World No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland won her seventh career title on Sunday night at Beijing by beating ninth-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany with a 7-5 0-6 6-4 scoreline in a thrilling encounter and claimed the 2011 China Open title. With this victory, Radwanska earned her back to back title, as she claimed the Tokyo Open title last week.

After 2 hours and 34 minutes of gruelling play, Radwanska won this encounter. This was the eleventh straight win for Radwanska, as she claimed the biggest title of her career so far. After trading consecutive breaks with Petkovic, Radwanska found her way into the final set at the right time and finished it in style to claim her seventh career title. The Polish earned 66% points on her first serve, as she fired 4 aces, hammered 32 winners and got benefitted from Petkovic’s 33 unforced errors. Radwanska converted 7 out of 13 break points to win this thrilling encounter, which saw tremendous rallies and exquisite exchange of shots between these two contenders.

After 1 hour and 25 minutes of play, Radwanska won the see-saw first set. Both players produced tremendous tennis, but Petkovic failed to get her act together in the crunch situation. Radwanska fired 4 aces, earned 59% points on her first serve, and converted 4 out of 9 break points in the first set.

Petkovic opted for counter-attack in the second-set and it paid off well. The German brought forth her A-game in the second set and clinched it in just 25 minutes. Petkovic earned 82% points on her first serve, hammered 15 winners and converted 3 out of three break points to complete a bagel in the second-set.

Third-set saw the exchange of breaks from both the contenders, until the Polish earned the decisive one in the ninth game and held on to her serve in the next game to surge through.