MUTUA MADRID OPEN Madrid, Spain May 5-13, 2012 $5,189,603/Premier Clay/Outoors
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Singles - Semifinals (1) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (4) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 62 64 (9) Serena Williams (USA) d. (Q) Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 76(5) 60
After an extremely close first set which ended in a tie-break, the second saw the American thumping Lucie Hradecka 0-6 in the day’s second semi-final.
After beating the revelation of this year’s Mutua Madrid Open, Lucie Hradecka, in the semis, Serena Williams is now in the grand final. The American player will be looking to lift her second title of the year, having already been crowned champion in Charleston.
The first set couldn’t have been tighter, with neither player dropping their service. Although Serena did waste four break ball opportunities. The set ended up going to the tie-break where Williams finally broke Hradecka’s serve after having already taken a 0-1 lead. She extended her lead to 2-5, but complicated matters for herself by squandering two serves.
And what seemed to be shaping up to become a long hard-fought affair, given the no.105’s form of taking down the big names so far in the tournament (having come all the way from the qualifying phase), ended up as a stroll for Williams, who cruised to a 0-6 victory to close out the tie. The American star won 25 of the 31 points played (81%) in the Manolo Santana Stadium, and twelve out thirteen on her serve (the only serve she dropped was through a double fault). The statistics from this match, however, give an unfair impression of Hradecka, who has had a really impressive tournament and who prior to this game had already knocked out greats like last year’s champion Petra Kvitova and Australian legend Samantha Stosur.
Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams will therefore go head-to-head for Sunday’s title in the Manolo Santana Centre Stadium, with the head-to-head balance clearly in the American’s favour. The only time the women have met in a final, however, was in Miami in 2009 and there the victory fell to the world no.1. By Santiago Retortillo | Source photo: Mutua Madrid Open
