Watching Agnieszka Radwanska and Sara Errani fighting out their nip-and-tuck quarter-final, the main question was how on earth the Italian had contrived to lose six of their seven previous meetings. Not since 2006 had the Italian beaten her Polish opponent. Errani’s form wavered in the match but she never let up and the fact that she required one hour and 51 minutes to take a two-set victory 6-4, 7-6(6) was testament to the doughty battle. Last year’s runner-up at Roland Garros goes through to face Serena Williams in the 2013 semi-finals. ( Also Read: French open: Serena faces Errani In semifinals )
Meanwhile Radwanska is left to contemplate an ever grimmer Grand Slam quarter-final record – one win from seven, with the 2012 Wimbledon final her only advance. She is a reliable bet for the last eight these days, having made that stage at four of the last six Slams. But an actual championship appears as far away as ever.
Before this match the last meeting between these two was another marathon at the WTA Championships seven months ago, which lasted three-and-a-half hours before Radwanska won. But she has had a lean clay-court season, and discouragingly the Pole took to the court with an eye-catching dayglo-pink strapping running down the back of her left thigh to beneath her knee. Yet it was Errani who was slower out of the blocks, with her play early in the first set lacking the familiar "pocket rocket" characteristics. There was none of her usual bustle about the court, and it robbed her tennis of its signature dynamism. Her overheads weren’t great, and briefly onlookers wondered if the stomach trouble she suffered in her fourth-round win over Carla Suarez Navarro was not quite cured.
She did break for 2-1 early on, but Radwanska levelled. Did we then but know it, those were to be the first of 11 breaks throughout this two-set match. Visibly frustrated yet spurred on by her every mistake, Errani saved five break points to reach 3-3. Every game was close now. Errani lobbed Radwanska beautifully to open a chance for 4-3, and nailed the break when Radwanska sent the ball long. Errani’s service was getting better as the set went on and she duly took the opener 6-4.
Radwanska double-faulted to gift another break to start the second set and needed a ten-minute game to level matters, with Errani tapping her own forehead in frustration as she found herself outfoxed. Both women were working hard, and when Radwanska came up with another break for 3-1 it looked like this might be another marathon three-setter. Instead Errani levelled, and on they tussled, producing frequent long rallies including several over 20 strokes. Still the breaks came, until the tie-break itself where they edged forward until a match point had to come. It belonged to Errani, but Radwanska wore her down with a 27-stroke rally. It was her last hurrah. Two mistakes later and the match belonged to the No.5 seed.
"I was really trying to play aggressive and not in the one spot, going down the lines," said a disappointed but characteristically phlegmatic Radwanska after the match. "It was the key, but she's very good runner as well. And playing from the defensive side is also good for her. Clay is definitely her surface. It's always disappointing to lose a match, but I think I played well anyway."
Errani, meanwhile, continued her tournament-long tactic of declining to compare this year's tournament to last year's, where she reached her debut Slam final. "There is no pressure from last year because I'm not thinking about last year," she said. "That was then, this is now. They are completely separate. Playing Serena will be very difficult because she is so strong. Physically she's an incredible athlete and she has a lot of power. It will be tough, although maybe better on clay than any other surface."
Courtesy:- www.rolandgarros.com