Radwanska To Play Craybas In Final
by Barry Wood

Agnieszka Radwanska from Poland will play American Jill Craybas in Sunday's final after both scored one-sided victories. Radwanska beat Russia's Ekaterina Bychkova 6-1 6-1, and Craybas overcame Akgul Amanmuradova from Uzbekistan 6-4 6-0.

It was a very easy match for Radwanska, exactly as the score suggests. She got off to the best possible start by breaking in the first game and simply went on from there. Bychkova had nothing like the fighting spirit that she had shown in her lengthy quarter-final on Friday, perhaps because that match had taken so much out of her. She found it difficult to maintain the rallies, making a great number of usually unforced errors, while Radwanska played steadily, most of the time.

After winning the first four games Radwanska broke a third time, at love, for the set, and then Bychkova went off for a toilet break as she is entitled to do. That seemed to unsettle Radwanska for a while, because when play resumed she made some horrendous errors and dropped her own serve to love. But that's the only game Bychkova was to win. Radwanska broke straight back and resumed her usual dominance. She and Bychkova played a bit of retro tennis for one point in the final game, hitting very slow and very high moonballs until Bychkova made the inevitable error. Then Radwanska closed out the match, winning the last game at love and finishing with an ace.

The final will be just her second, after she won Stockholm last year. That is something she has in common with Craybas, who also won her only previous final, although that was way back in 2002 at the Japan Open.

“The first few rounds were for sure more difficult than today,” said the 18-year old. “She was serving well but moving not so good so I think she was tired. I feel very good about getting to the final. I enjoy playing here. Today was not that hot. Yesterday and the day before it was much hotter and I didn't feel very good on the court, but today was much better. Except for the first game of the second set everything was fine.”

Craybas faced one of the tallest players on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, and she uses her height to good advantage by unleashing some terrific serves. But it takes more than that to win a match, and the more experienced Craybas was by far the sharper and steadier player. An early break led to her leading 5-3, although when she served at 5-4 she had to fight off two break points for 5-5 before closing out the set.

Amanmuradova received treatment to her left thigh before the second set, but whatever was wrong seemed to have effect despite her not winning another game. She double-faulted to give Craybas a break for 1-0, and the American broke her again to love to lead 3-0. The match was virtually over, and Craybas finished by winning her own service game at love. So a good afternoon's work for the 33-year old veteran.

“I just stayed committed to what I wanted to do rather than think about the score or how I was playing or figuring out what she was doing. I was mainly focusing on what I need to do to play well and to win,” said Craybas. “She's tall and the ball would get up high on my because I'm a little shorter, so my goal was to take her serve early and if I could return well then I think once I got into the rally I'd feel pretty comfortable.

“It feels great to be in another final. I'm excited and I'll just take it as another match and focus again on what I need to do. Not focus on what is happening but on the goals that I want to achieve. This is what you play for, to get to play these top players. If I win great, if I lose at least I can learn from a top player what I need to improve.

“I just want to go out there and play well and compete well. If I go out there and give it 100 percent I can't complain. We're both fighters and we're both pretty consistent, so I think it's just going to come down to a couple of points here and there, and we'll see.”