The No.5 seed Agnieszka Radwanska may have had a bumpy start to her Dubai campaign – struggling in three sets against Aleksandra Wozniak in her opening round – but the Pole ended her week on a high, taking her first title in the Emirate with a hard-fought win over Julia Goerges on Saturday night.
Radwanska has cemented her position as a new threat to the world’s top players as she came through a tough draw to finally beat Goerges 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and 43 minutes, and establish herself as one of the trickiest and smartest players on Tour.
The 22-year-old is having an incredible run this season but she is exceptionally happy about her title win, having had to go through some tight situations all week.
“I feel just great, especially that I really had tough matches since the first round,” said Radwanska, who has made the semis in Doha and Sydney, and the quarters at the Australian Open in an impressive season so far. I was pretty close to losing the first round, so I’m just extremely happy.”
The first game said everything about the match. Goerges hit two unforced errors on the first two points – first she netted an easy volley and then she hit a forehand long.
She went down 15-40 and saved the first break point with a massive down-the-line forehand winner but couldn’t save the second as Radwanska hit a cheeky cross court forehand and got the break.
The rest of the match could be described in the same way. A stream of errors from an aggressive Goerges were interrupted by some exceptionally well-struck winners from the German, while Radwanska always waited for her chances and made the most of her opponent’s mistakes.
After Georges recovered from a bad start and went from 4-2 down to 5-4 she could have reached 6-5 had she converted any of her four game points in the 12th game. But Radwanska skillfully denied her all four of them, and at break point down Goerges reached a decent position at the net, only to volley wide.
Goerges began the second set better than the first and thought she had earned a chance to reach 2-0 when at deuce a line judge called Radwanska’s inside-out drive wide. But the Pole demanded a video replay which showed the ball catching the outside of the line.
Perhaps the disappointment affected the unseeded player, for Goerges dropped her serve in the next game and was never quite able to repair the damage as Radwanska continued to hold with some solid strokes and sturdily survived a break point at 30-40 in the final game.
“I think I was just a couple of points better, to be honest. Two tight sets, and I think it was just pretty close and tight,” said Radwanska, who saved three of the five break points she faced throughout the match. But I think in the important moments I think I was just more consistent. I think that’s it.”
The Dubai champion admitted that handling her opponent’s forehand was a true challenge. She said: “Julia’s forehand is a very big weapon. You never know what to expect from this forehand. It’s just going so fast, and sometimes I couldn’t even move the right way and the ball was already behind me.”
Radwanska next plays in Kuala Lumpur, which she headed on a plane towards last night, while Goerges is back in Germany for some rest before she prepares for Indian Wells and Miami.
All smiles: Agnieszka Radwanska with the silver jug.
