Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska serves to Italy’s Flavia Pennetta during their second round match at the Khalifa Tennis and Squash complex yesterday. Picture: Noushad Thekkayil

By Satya Rath/Doha
 
Agnieszka Radwanska has been a four-time semi-finalist in Doha—first in 2008, and then for three consecutive years from 2012 to 2014—and lost each time to the eventual champion. On the other hand, the Polish fourth seed’s second-round opponent at the $731,000 Qatar Total Open yesterday, Italian Flavia Pennetta, had never advanced beyond the quarter-final stage in Doha.
Radwanska also carried a four-three head-to-head advantage, but Pennetta held the upper hand in their most recent battles—at Indian Wells last year where she beat her in the final, and before that in the second round in Dubai. Yesterday’s match was the first time they were meeting in Doha.
But if one thought the match would go the distance, they were sadly mistaken. Even before the spectators could settle down in their seats, Radwanska had breezed through the first set 6-1 in just 20 minutes, breaking Pennetta’s serve in the fourth and sixth games. The second set followed a similar pattern and scoreline, and even Radwanska herself said she was surprised at how quickly the match ended.
“Yeah, well, it actually surprised me as well. For sure I wouldn’t tell it was going to be that quick… But I think I really played great tennis today, I was really aggressive and really focused from the beginning and I guess that worked until the end,” the 25-year-old, currently ranked eighth in the world, said.
“I think this is a tournament where you can always expect all the very top, long matches as the world’s top 20 players are in action here. There are no easy matches here, so yeah, the quick outcome was a bit surprising as I was expecting a tough match,” added the Pole, who will meet American veteran Venus Williams in today’s quarter-finals.
Williams took close to three hours to overcome the challenge of Czech Republic’s Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in three energy-sapping sets (7-5, 3-6, 7-6) in Tuesday’s final match which went beyond midnight.
“I think that will be a tough one. She has had a great season last year and a very good start to the new season. For sure it’s not going to be an easy one, but I am looking forward to it. I think playing Venus is always a really good challenge,” said Radwanska, who lost to the 34-year-old American in the fourth round of the Australian Open last month.
“I think it’s going to be very good match for revenge,” she laughed. “But all credit to her, she has been playing great. It’s always hard to be back after a long break, and she’s not just back, she’s in the top 15 as well, and looks as fit and healthy like she was a few years ago. So, she for sure will be a tricky opponent.”
Top seed Petra Kvitova joined Radwanska in the last eight an hour later when her Serbian opponent Jelena Jankovic retired with a right hip injury with the Czech leading 6-3, 1-1. Kvitova had lost to Jankovic, a three-time semifinalist in Doha, in the quarter-finals here last year.
The Czech world number four said she felt for her opponent, who took medical timeout twice during the first set. “You know, it never feels nice to see someone who is retiring from a match. With Jelena, we have always had great matches. I lost to her last year here in the quarterfinals, so I was expecting a tough match which actually showed on the court. The game, I think, was of pretty high level. It’s tough to describe what happened during the match, but I wonder how bad it is. I feel sorry for Jelena for sure, I hope she is going to be good and will be able to compete again very soon,” Kvitova, who was playing only her first match of the tournament after being awarded a first-round bye, said.
She will meet either Czech Karolina Pliskova or Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain for a place in the semis.
There was another retirement later in the evening when Romanian qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru sprained her ankle and conceded the match while trailing 1-6, 0-3 against third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. The Dane blitzed through the first set in just 24 minutes, breaking the Romanian in the second and sixth games, and again broke her in the first and third of the second when Dulgheru called it quits.
Wozniacki will play the winner of the match between Victorian Azarenka of Belarus and Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals.
While retirements and one-sided matches were the order of the day on center court, the best matches of the day happened outside, on the side courts, where Lucie Safarova stunned world number nine Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3 in a two-hour 18-minute clash. And in an adjacent court, German sixth seed Andrea Petkovic took two hours 36 minutes to quell the spirited challenge of Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.

Results (Round 2)
4-A Radwanska (POL) bt F Pennetta (ITA) 6-1, 6-1; 1-P Kvitova (CZE) bt J Jankovic (SRB) 6-3, 1-1 (Jankovic retired); 3-C Wozniacki (DEN) bt Q-A Dulgheru (ROU) 6-1, 3-0 (Dulgheru retired); L Safarova (CZE) bt 5-E Makarova (RUS) 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3; 6-A Petkovic (GER) bt Z Diyas (KAZ) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 K Pliskova (CZE) vs 9-C Suárez Navarro (ESP) WC-V Azarenka (BLR) vs E Svitolina (UKR)
Doubles (Round 1)
M Krajicek (NED)/B Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) bt J Goerges (GER)/A Groenefeld (GER) 6-1, 6-4 A Kudryavtseva (RUS)/K Srebotnik (SLO) vs 2-E Makarova (RUS)/E Vesnina (RUS)
(Seedings in prefix; Q: Qualifier; WC: Wild Card)


BELOW:
Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in action against Romanian qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru,  who conceded the match because of an injury while trailing 1-6, 0-3.