Thursday, September 2, 2010

Peng upsets 9th seed Radwanska at U.S. Open

Commentators and writers usually talk about Agnieszka Radwanska's moving "under the radar" at a major tournament. She has advanced under the radar at this year's U.S. Open, too, but Peng Shuai managed to locate her and escort her to the exit. The unpredictable Peng, when she's playing at her top level, can have a go at the best of them, and tonight, she defeated 9th seed Radwanska 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. Earlier in the day, Radwanska's sister, Urszula, was defeated by Lourdes Dominguez Lino.

I was pleased when a New York Times tennis writer suggested that fans watch the second round U.S. Open match featuring Patty Schnyder and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. I could watch both clever lefties play for hours, with their drops and spins and sometimes artistic strategies. 22nd seed Martinez Sanchez hasn't played much lately because of a knee injury, but she was nevertheless entertaining. Schnyder lost some opportunities to win the first set, but she won it via a tiebreak, and then won the second set 6-3. With her career winding down (I'm in some denial about that), it was great to see her get to the third round.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki defeated Chang Kai-Chen 6-0, 6-0, and Maria Sharapova defeated Iveta Benesova 6-1, 6-2. The two are now very close to a round of 16 meeting, and all eyes will be on that match.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands lost a close match to Andre Petkovic. The German danced even more tonight. If she continues to win, she's going to need a deejay. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva and Maria Kirilenko all advanced, making it a strong day for the top Russians.

It was a very hot, very windy, very difficult day, but that didn't tempt either ESPN or U.S. Open website officials to let us get even a glimpse of a match that lasted three hours and thirteen minutes. In fact, Dominka Cibulkova and Kateryna Bondarenko spent an hour and 42 minutes just working out their third set. Cibulkova defeated Bondarenko 6-2, 5-7, 7-6. Is there a back or hip injury coming soon? I hope not, but Cibulkova has a significant history of back and hip problems.

A final note: Kaia Kanepi, Yanina Wickmayer, Chan Yung-Jan, and Alexandra Dulgheru all advanced to the third round.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi, I'm a long time reader of your blog, I just normally don't post... I really do love this blog though and I hope that you continue it for years to come. Anyway, Peng has always been talented. I've never actually seen her play (in person, obviously seen matches of hers), but I remember a few years ago when she beat Clijsters and Kim talked about how she could be top 5 easy. It obviously hasn't happened, but she has talent. Hope she gets it together because I do love me some 2 handers on both sides.

Diane said...

Actually, Clijsers said that Peng had played like a top-5 player that day. And she had. But Peng, unfortunately, rarely brings her top game to a singles match. She's a really good doubles player, however, and is more consistent playing with a partner.

I like watching her, too, and I like her persona. She showed last night what a dangerous floater she can be.

Thanks for your kind words about the blog!

Sunny nine said...

Well, I phased out about the streaming yesterday and didn't catch all the matches I wanted to. So how did Peng beat Radwanska? Just over- powering Radwanska's serves or ? I like Martinez Sanchez but was glad Schnyder won. I have said before that I want Schnyder to make some noise before she retires. But those two being in a match together-fun!

Diane said...

The Radwanska-Peng match wasn't shown on TV or on the U.S. Open website, and I didn't search for it anywhere else. When Peng is on, though, she finds those two-handed angles that Bartoli creates.