Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships: Agnieszka Radwanska made to work hard
Last Updated: February 21, 2013 7:48am
Agnieszka Radwanska: Pole's serve misfired early on
Defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska reached the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with a 7-5 6-3 win over Yulia Putintseva.
Radwanska, the world number four, had to recover from a break down in each set her 18-year-old Kazakh opponent in their second-round match.
The Pole, who enjoyed a bye in the first round, lost three of her first four service games on an overcast centre court but, after a five-minute rain delay, hit back to make it 4-4 and then won the set when Putintseva made a spate of unforced errors.
Putintseva led 2-1 with a break early in the second set but Radwanska responded immediately and later reeled off three straight games to seal victory.
"For me, the first match is always a bit tricky," said third seed Radwanska, who will play Petra Kvitova or Ana Ivanovic in the last eight.
"I didn't hit on the centre court here this year, and I was just practising outside - it was actually much faster. I was surprised - the ball is just not going anywhere and it was tough for me."
Italy's Roberta Vinci knocked out fourth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany 7-5 6-1 but there was no such problems for seventh-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur, who prevailed 6-4 6-0 over Taiwan's Hsieh Su-Wei.
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki routed Chinese qualifier Jie Zheng 6-0 6-1, while Russian veteran Nadia Petrova was similarly dominant in beating Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1 6-0.
