Former champion Agnieszka Radwanska reached the semi-finals of the Aegon International in Eastbourne, England, on Thursday with a straightforward 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova.
The 2008 champion from Poland, who went out in the first round on the English south coast in three successive editions from 2012 to last year, needed just 1 hour, 5 minutes to advance with four breaks of serve.
World No. 13 Radwanska, seeded ninth, was due to face off against Sloane Stephens yesterday after the American advanced without hitting a shot when Russian lucky loser Daria Gavrilova had to retire before their quarter-final with an abdominal strain.
Photo: AFP
Radwanska improved her Eastbourne record to 12-7 as she beat Pironkova for the ninth time in 11 meetings, following up her semi-final on the grass courts in Nottingham earlier this month.
While Radwanska wasted no time in advancing on a sunny day at Devonshire Park, it took Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic just under 2 hours to eliminate the last British challenger of the week at the Wimbledon warm-up.
The world No. 31, who played a grass-court final this month in the Netherlands and lost to Italy’s Camila Giorgi, defeated Australia-born Johanna Konta of Britain 2-6, 6-0, 6-3.
World No. 146 Konta came in on a wild card and turned in the best week of her career as she won three consecutive matches. The last Briton to do that in Eastbourne was Jo Durie 32 years ago.
Two of Konta’s wins came over fourth seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and 14th seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain.
Bencic lost the opening set, but changed tactics to get back into the contest.
“It was a very difficult match, she’s a good player and really made me work,” said Bencic, who is advised by the mother of former Swiss prodigy Martina Hingis. “We had some great rallies.”
“I didn’t play badly in the first set, but I missed on some key points,” she said.
“In the second and third I played more aggressively, and got in more first serves. Of course, I knew that the crowd was on her side, but thanks to the fans who cheered for me. I was fighting on every point,” she added.
Bencic survived six aces from Konta and saved 10 of a dozen break points against her serve.
In yesterday’s semi-finals she was due to face second seed and former champion Caroline Wozniacki, who defeated 10th seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany 7-5, 6-1 in Thursday’s final quarter-final.
In the early doubles semi-final yesterday, fourth seeds Caroline Garcia of France and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia ousted top seeds Hingis of Switzerland and Sania Mirza of India 7-5, 6-4 in 1 hour, 21 minutes.
The French-Slovenian duo saved 12 of 15 break points and converted five of 12 to set up a final against either Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Zheng Jie of China or second-seeded Russian pairing Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, who were due to play their semi-final later yesterday.
Additional reporting by Dave Carroll
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