Radwanska takes Eastbourne shortcut

Radwanska takes Eastbourne shortcut

June 22, 2016
Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska in action against Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in Eastbourne Tuesday. — Reuters
Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska in action against Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in Eastbourne Tuesday. — Reuters

EASTBOURNE — Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska took a shortcut into the third round of the WTA Eastbourne grass-court event Tuesday when Croatian opponent Mirjana Lucic-Baroni retired ill trailing 6-4, 2-1.

Radwanska, the 2008 champion, who played the Wimbledon final in 2012, needed just 47 minutes under the sun at Devonshire Park to advance.

She moves directly into a showdown with former fellow Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard after the unseeded Canadian booked her spot 6-3, 6-1 over Romanian 15th seed Irina Begu.

France's Kristina Mladenovic earned an upset by beating Swiss fourth seed Timea Bacsinszky 6-1, 7-5, as the seed made a slow start from which she could not recover.

Former tournament winner Caroline Wozniacki knocked out another seed, beating No. 7 Samantha Stosur, 6-2, 6-1.

Stosur has never done particularly well on grass, losing in the second round at the last two editions despite reaching semifinals here.

Double Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, the No. 5, beat Hungarian Timea Babos 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) while Slovak 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova advanced against Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 6-3.

Petra Kvitova also advanced to the third round. Fifth-seeded Kvitova, who has reached just one semifinal this year, beat Timea Babos of Hungary 6-4, 7-6 (5).

On Monday, Bouchard beat Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 6-2 in the rain-affected first round of the Eastbourne International Monday.

Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, the 2014 champion, produced one of three defeats of British women on the day, dispatching 229th-ranked Tara Moore 7-5, 6-4.

Her compatriot Elena Vesnina, who won the trophy in 2010, beat Heather Watson 6-2, 6-3 and next plays holder Belinda Bencic.

Monica Puig of Puerto Rico put out Naomi Broady 6-1, 6-1 to complete a miserable day for home players at Devonshire Park.

German Andrea Petkovic advanced over Zheng Saisai of China in a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 comeback victory.

Czechs to play Spain in Fed Cup

Reigning Fed Cup champion the Czech Republic will play Spain in the first round of the 2017 competition following Monday's draw in Zagreb.

The 2015 champion, led by two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, is through to the 2016 final where it will play France in a bid to win a fifth title in six years since beginning their domination of the competition in 2011.

France will play away to Switzerland and the United States will host Germany in the first round ties to be played on Feb. 11-12, 2017.
This year's final will be held in Strasbourg, France on Nov. 12-13.

2017 Draw

World Group 1: Czech Republic vs. Spain; United States vs. Germany; Belarus vs. Netherlands; Switzerland vs. France.

World Group 2: Russia vs. Taiwan; Romania vs. Belgium; Ukraine vs. Australia; Italy vs. Slovakia.


June 22, 2016
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