Sports

'Professor' Radwanska digs deep to oust qualifier Van Uytvanck

'Professor' Radwanska digs deep to oust qualifier Van Uytvanck

By REUTERS

Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska in action during her second round match against Belgium's Alison Van Uytvanck. Photo: Reuters

PARIS: Ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska lived up to her nickname as the 'Professor' when she dug deep into her toolbox of tactics to repel tenacious qualifier Alison Van Uytvanck 6-7(3) 6-2 6-3 in the French Open second round on Thursday. The world number 10 was taken by surprise in the first set when the aggressive Belgian, ranked 103 spots below her, went 3-1 up and squandered four break points to go 4-1 up. Despite fighting back, Radwanska could not handle her opponent's big kicking serve and stream of dropshots and Van Uytvanck bagged the tiebreak with a smash. Radwanska, whose best grand slam performance was reaching the 2012 Wimbledon final, changed tactics and decided to mix it up as well, rushing to the net more often and attacking the Belgian's high-bouncing serve early to race through the second set 6-2. The 23-year-old Van Uytvanck, who underwent wrist surgery in December and has made only one WTA main draw appearance this year prior to Roland Garros, was broken in the third game and the Pole never looked back, winning the match when her opponent dumped a backhand into the net after two hours and 23 minutes.