World No. 5 Agnieszka Radwanska won two matches yesterday to advance to the quarter-finals of a rain-interrupted BMW Malaysian Open.
The player, who was wearing a thigh strap, will meet Taiwanese qualifier Hsieh Su-wei today for a berth in the semi-finals.
The Pole beat Akgul Amanmuradova, who she was originally scheduled to play on Tuesday, 6-2, 6-4 in her first match of the day, before easing past Karolina Pliskova, 6-4, 6-4.
While results went Radwanska’s way, it was the end of the road for fourth seed Jarmila Gajdosova and seventh seed Jelena Dokic.
Radwanska was in cruise control against Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the second round, but admitted it was hard waiting just to finish off her first-round match.
“Playing two matches [in one day] is bad, especially under these conditions. The weather really hasn’t been helping the progress of the tournament,” Radwanska said.
Radwanska came to Kuala Lumpur after winning in Dubai on Saturday, a victory which saw her reach a career high on the WTA rankings.
“I’ve not had much rest too, as I have been playing for several weeks now. My shoulder feels sore as a result of this, but hopefully it is not too bad. But the thigh strap is just a precaution,” she said.
Rain forced her Tuesday match against Amanmuradova to be postponed and it was then called off on Wednesday with the score at 6-2, 3-3.
When play resumed yesterday, Radwanska was fired up to finish and took just 20 minutes to close out the match.
Meanwhile, defending champion Dokic threw away a one-set-and-4-2-up lead against fellow Australian Olivia Rogowska to lose in three. Rogowska held her nerve, despite facing some punishing groundstrokes, to grind out a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) victory.
“It was one of those frustrating days where I couldn’t play my best tennis,” Dokic said. “It was a game I should have won easily.”
A delighted Rogowska will now face Eleni Daniilido, who upset Gajdosova of Australia 6-4, 6-0 for a place in the semis. Third seed Peng Shuai of China also reached the quarter-finals yesterday and will meet fifth seed Petra Martic of Croatia.
The US$220,000 BMW Malaysian Open ends on Sunday.
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