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Two top ten seeds collide today as Agnieszka Radwanska and Carla Suarez-Navarro do battle for the right to progress to an Australian Open semi-final. Join The Roar for live scores from 11:00am AEDT.
Radwanska and Suarez-Navarro were forced to dig deep in the fourth round, with each player coming back from a set down to book their passage into the quarter-finals.
Suarez-Navarro in particular recovered superbly against Australian Daria Gavrilova, winning the match after losing the first set 6-0.
Such a victory is testament to Suarez-Navarro’s competitive attitude. One could argue that she is the David Ferrer of the WTA tour and it certainly showed against an in-form Gavrilova.
Despite her small frame, the Spaniard possesses one of the finest backhand shots on the WTA tour and it is a weapon that will give Radwanska severe problems today if she finds her range.
Radwanska has always had trouble defeating players who possess heavier groundstrokes and this was certainly the case in her last round victory over German Anna-Lena Friedsam.
The former Wimbledon finalist was down 5-2 in the final set before Friedsam suffered what appeared to be a right hamstring injury to go along with cramp.
Before that, Friedsam was overpowering Radwanska with her backhand and it’s the same shot that Suarez-Navarro will employ today against her Polish opponent.
Overall, there is little separating Suarez-Navarro and Radwanska when it comes to court coverage, serve and forehand. Both players appear evenly matched so a three setter should be expected today.
As mentioned earlier, though, Suarez-Navarro’s backhand is a thing of beauty and when hit well it is the one shot that could play a big role in sealing her passage into the Australian Open semi-finals.
Suarez-Navarro to win in three sets.