Agnieszka Radwańska born 6 March 1989 in Kraków, full name Agnieszka Roma Radwańska is a WTA Tour Polish tennis player.
Agnieszka Radwańska defeated Tamira Paszek of Austria to win the 2005 Girls' Singles Championship at Wimbledon. As a professional, her highest career singles ranking is World No. 9, achieved on 4 August 2008. As of 12 October , 2009, she is ranked World No. 10.
In 2007, Radwańska became the first Polish player in history to claim a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title when she won the Nordea Nordic Light Open. In 2008, she won three more singles titles: the Pattaya Women's Open, the Istanbul Cup, and the International Women's Open.
At the 2008 Australian Open, Radwańska became the first Polish woman to reach a Grand Slam singles quarterfinal during the open era[1] and only the second Polish woman (the other being Jadwiga Jedrzejowska during the 1930s) ever to reach a Grand Slam singles quarterfinal.
On 24 May 2008, she became the first Polish female tennis player to surpass US$1 million in career prize money.
Radwańska is an all-court player (as shown with her results on different surfaces. She won three titles in 2008 on hard, clay, and grass courts). She hits consistently on both the forehand and the backhand sides. Her favorite shot is her forehand, particularly the inside-out forehand which is her most powerful shot. She is also very accurate with the drop shot and lob. She lacks much of the "power plays" of other players like Maria Sharapova or the Williams sisters, thus she relies on tactical accuracy and patience on constructing the point before hitting a winner. In addition, Radwańska is known for her gamesmanship [4]. Because of this playing style, several commentators (including former men's pro Wojtek Fibak) have compared her to Martina Hingis, saying that she is "a natural mover who understands the geometry of the court" [5]. However, several commentators have also said that Radwanska lacks the serving power and offensive capabilities to become a top 3 player.
Her first tournament in 2009 year was Australian Medibank International Sydney, where she was sixth seeded. She won in the first round against Sybille Bammer of Austria 6-4, 6-3. In the second round she meet Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, Agnieszka won in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. She reached the quarterfinals, where she lost in three sets to the third seeded and eventual champion Elena Dementieva 2-6, 7-5, 4-6.
Radwańska was the ninth seed at the Australian Open but lost in the first round to Kateryna Bondarenko in three sets.
At the Open GDF Suez in Paris, Radwańska was seeded fourth and won her first two matches, including a three setter against Russia's Alisa Kleybanova. She was then upset in the quarterfinals by Amelie Mauresmo 6–2, 6–0.
Agnieszka lost to her sister Urszula in the first round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships 6–4, 6–3. With partner Maria Kirilenko, Agnieszka lost in the final of the doubles tournament to Cara Black and Liezel Huber.
Radwańska then lost in the first round of the Monterrey Open to China's Li Na even though Radwańska was the top seed.
Radwańska played both of the Premier Mandatory tournaments in the United States in March. At the Indian Wells Agnieszka won in the second round against Sam Stosur in three sets. In the third round she defeated Aleksandra Wozniak in straight sets. In the fourth round she won over Agnes Szavay of Hungary in a three set battle. She lost in the quarterfinals to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7–6, 6–4. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Agnieszka won in the second round in three sets against Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand, In the third round she defeated Kaia Kanepi in straight sets. she lost in the fourth round to Venus Williams 4–6, 6–1, 6–4.
Radwańska was seeded eighth at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. After pulling off wins against Aleksandra Wozniak and Tsvetana Pironkova, she fell in the quarters to top seed Dinara Safina.
In the Italian Open, Radwańska won in the first round against Alona Bondarenko, than defeated Aravane Rezaï of France in three set battle. In the third round Agnieszka win over Ana Ivanovic in three sets.In the final set Ivanovic was up 4-0, but Agnieszka fought back. She then lost to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals.
Radwańska lost to Sam Stosur in the opening round of the Madrid Masters 7-64, 6-1. Her next tournament was Warsaw Open, where she was seeded second, but she withdrew due to a back injury.
At the French Open Agnieszka was 12th seeded. She defeated Rossana De Los Rios 6-3, 6-1 in the first round. In the second round she won with Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine 6-1, 6-4. In the third round she upset Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2, 6-4 but lost in fourth round match after giving tough match to eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets 4-6, 6-1, 1-6. In addition she made it to the quarter finals in doubles with her sister at the French Open.
Radwańska began her grass court season in Eastbourne, where she was the defending champion as the 8th seed. However, she was upset by Virginie Razzano in the Quarterfinals by 7-6(5), 7-5. This caused her to fall to World No. 14.
Radwańska was seeded 11th at the Wimbledon Championships. She defeated María José Martínez Sánchez in the first round and had to go to three sets to defeat Peng Shuai in the second round. Radwańska then defeated #19 Li Na in the third round. She then defeated Melanie Oudin, who had knocked out Jelena Jankovic in the previous round 6-4 7-5, to reach her third Grand Slam quarterfinal and second consecutive quarterfinal at Wimbledon. Radwańska was thrashed 6-1, 6-2 to #3 Venus Williams.
Radwańska was seeded 7th at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford. After win against Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-1 in the first round, she fell in the second round to Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-7(6), 1-6
Radwańska was seeded 8th at Los Angeles and received a bye in the second round. She defeated Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama and slumping Russian Anna Chakvetadze before falling to Romanian rising star Sorana Cirstea in an error-strewn display. In the doubles event, she and her partner Maria Kirilenko made it to the final and fought from a bagel first set to take it to a match tie-break, in which they unfortunately lost 6-0, 4-6, (10-7).
Radwańska was seeded 13th at Cincinnati. She defeated Ai Sugiyama in the first round but lost soundly to Austrian Sybille Bammer 6-0, 7-5 in the next round (Bammer went on to defeat Serena Williams).
Agnieszka was seeded 14 in Toronto. She defeated Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-3 in the first round and Agnes Szavay 6-1, 6-1 in the second round. She took revenge for her loss in Melbourne on Kateryna Bondarenko by defeating her 7-5, 6-3 in the third round. In the quarterfinals, she lost to Maria Sharapova 6-2, 7-6(5) despite serving for the second set at 5-3 and being up a mini-break in the tiebreak. She also participated in the doubles with Caroline Wozniacki. They defeated Yan Zi and Zheng Jie in the first round in a match tiebreak but lost to fourth seeded Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-2 in the second round.
Radwańska was seeded 5th at New Haven. She won in the first round in three sets 2-6, 6-2, 7-65 against qualifier Roberta Vinci. She retired in her match against Virginie Razzano in the second round with a right hand injury after winning the first set and losing the second.
Agnieszka was seeded 12th at the US Open. She faced Patricia Mayr in the first round and won 6-1 6-2. She then lost in the second round to Maria Kirilenko in three sets, 6-4 2-6 6-4.
Agnieszka started the fall season in Tokyo. She defeated Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 6-3, Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, qualifier Andrea Petkovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 and Birmingham champion Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3, 6-1 for her first semifinal of the season, where she fell to eventual champion, Maria Sharapova, losing 3-6 6-2 4-6.
Due to her performance in Tokyo, Agnieszka received a bye into the second round of the 2009 China Open, where she defeated Patty Schnyder, who defeated her sister Urszula in the first round. She then defeated Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in three sets to go through her eleventh quarterfinal of the year, and then upset fourth seeded Elena Dementieva and 13th seeded Marion Bartoli in straight sets to advance to her first ever final of the year, where she lost in straight sets to Svetlana Kuznetsova. Because of her super run in Beijing, she will return to the Top 10 in the WTA rankings.
She entered Linz as the second seed, and reached her third semifinal in as many weeks without dropping a set. However, in her semifinal match, she was stunned by world no. 54 Petra Kvitova in straight sets. In Moscow, she lost her first round match to Maria Kirilenko, therefore qualifying as an alternate for the 2009 WTA Tour Championships in Doha for the second consecutive time.
In Doha, a turn of unusual events saw Agnieszka replace Vera Zvonareva, the first alternate, in the White group after Zvonareva suffered an ankle injury. Zvonareva, who had already stepped in for Safina, would be one of four players to retire at the Championships, joining Safina, Azarenka, and Wozniacki. In her round robin rubber, Agnieszka faced the sixth seed, Victoria Azarenka. Agnieszka won the match, despite Azarenka having built a hefty 6-4 5-2 lead. With Radwanska up 4-6 7-5 4-1, Azarenka retired due to cramping. Radwańska's win gave good friend, Caroline Wozniacki, a semifinal berth at the Championships against Serena Williams.
