The path to a maiden Grand Slam title was there for Agnieszka Radwanska to embark on, but nothing can describe her disappointing and embarrassing semi-final capitulation at the hands of Dominika Cibulkova on Thursday.
Thursday’s semi-final between Radwanska and Cibulkova marked the first for either player at the Australian Open, and their third and second at Grand Slam level respectively.
And it was widely anticipated that Radwanska would go through to her second Grand Slam final, having previously reached the final of Wimbledon in 2012 where she lost to the great Serena Williams in three sets.
Cibulkova, by contrast, was playing in only her second Grand Slam semi-final, having previously lost to then-world number one Dinara Safina at this same stage at the 2009 French Open.
But the pocket rocket, who has now achieved what Daniela Hantuchova couldn’t and became the first Slovak of either sex to reach a Grand Slam final since the country turned independent in 1993, continued on her giant killing run that saw her ram down opponents such as Francesca Schiavone, Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep on her way to the final four.
Her fourth round victory over Sharapova was aided by poor serving from the Russian, and she also took advantage of a very nervous Halep, playing in her first ever Grand Slam quarter-final, to crush her adversary 6-3, 6-0 in the final eight.
But nobody saw her crushing victory over Agnieszka Radwanska, an opponent who had dominated most of their meetings in the past, coming.
Radwanska entered her first Australian Open semi-final on the back of an upset victory over Victoria Azarenka in the quarter-finals, but in the same manner in which Ana Ivanovic failed to back up her victory over Serena Williams with a loss to Eugenie Bouchard in the final eight, the Pole could not keep up that intensity as the chance to reach a second Grand Slam final flushed down the drain like heavy rain.
She never even challenged Cibulkova throughout the one-sided contest; a break in the opening game of the match set the tone for an embarrassingly easy victory for the 24-year-old Slovak.
After losing the first set 6-1, Radwanska appeared to show some fight in the second set. At 0-4 down, she managed to peg back two games but it would be too little, too late as Cibulkova raced into her first Grand Slam final in just over an hour.
There, she will play Li Na, who has got to be the hot favourite to claim the Australian Open for the first time after two previous failures.
Li also got off to a strong start in her semi-final against Eugenie Bouchard, breaking three times to love in the opening set as nerves started to get the better of the young Canadian, who this time last year failed to even qualify for the main draw.
But after that fast start, errors started to creep into Li’s game and she gave up her serve to give Bouchard a 2-0 lead in the second set as the Canadian threatened to inflict another upset upon a tournament favourite.
From there, Li would regroup and she would win six of the last eight games to win through to her third Australian Open final in four years, where for the first time she will start the outright favourite and for the first time in a Grand Slam final will face a seed lower than her.
Victory on Saturday, as expected, would see her become the oldest female winner of the Australian Open for a while, as time runs out on a second Grand Slam title with her 32nd birthday looming.
It would also see her become the first female Grand Slam champion to save a match point from an earlier round since Serena Williams just edged out Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2009.
She would also become the first Australian Open champion to save a match point since Williams defeated Maria Sharapova in the 2005 semi-finals; in fact, it was that victory which kick-started the American’s ongoing dominance of Sharapova and it was from that heartbreaking loss from which the Russian would never recover from when faced against Williams in present matches.
A full preview of the women’s final will be provided tomorrow.
But back to Radwanska now, and her effortless performance against Cibulkova will have everyone asking questions about whether she can even challenge for a maiden Grand Slam title in the near future.
The Pole has been a serial contender at the Grand Slams since breaking into the top four in April 2012, but lacks the extra x-factor that her higher-ranked rivals such as Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, and to a lesser extent, Li Na, possess.
Her first Grand Slam as a top four seed ended in a meek exit to dual Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova at Roland Garros in 2012; the result came as no surprise given the Russian had dominated the Pole throughout their rivalry.
And while she did reach the final at Wimbledon a month later, she faced a very experienced opponent who was only starting to regain her best form after struggling in her comeback from a serious near-death experience.
And then at the US Open, following a victory over fallen Serb Jelena Jankovic in the third round, she again exited to a lower-ranked opponent, that time Italian Roberta Vinci.
2013 saw her reach a pair of quarter-finals at the Australian and French Opens, but she lost to Li Na and Sara Errani respectively, while at Wimbledon, she surrendered her best chance to go one better when she lost to Sabine Lisicki in a thrilling semi-final in which the final set lasted 16 games.
And again, her best chance to reach the US Open quarter-finals went begging when she crashed out to Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows.
Her disappointing performance against Dominika Cibulkova on Thursday came after she had defeated Victoria Azarenka with a procession of strong hitting and frustrating her opponent in the quarter-finals, and also came after the two big contenders for the title, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, failed to make it out of round four.
And it will also leave tennis fans wondering whether she should still be considered a contender at Grand Slam tournaments, and whether her Grand Slam window will still remain open.
With Williams an Azarenka likely to dominate at the major tournaments again this year, it’s unlikely Radwanska will ever get another chance to win a breakthrough Grand Slam title, let alone reach another final.
The Pole’s world ranking will improve slightly; she is expected to replace Maria Sharapova in the top four when the rankings are updated next week. But in future tournaments, she must justify her world ranking at major tournaments and go deep to prove that she has whatever it takes to win that breakthrough title.
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