WTA: Sydney: Muguruza and Radwanska do justice to their role as favourites

The favourites fought their way into the quarter-finals in Sydney. Garbine Muguruza and Agnieszka Radwanska are in the next round after a hard work.

In Sydney, the final tests will be held before the upcoming Australian Open. Among other things, Garbiñe Muguruza, third in the world rankings, was on the road and prevailed against the strong Dutch rider Kiki Bertens.

In the first round, the Spaniard played concentrated and snatched first set after 54 minutes with 6:3. Both troughs were persistent and delivered long rallies. The second round was also very close. Bertens increased and put a lot of pressure on Muguruza.

The early break came back towards the end of the set and forced a tiebreak. This was to develop into a true break festival. A total of eight times the respective server the shorter one. In the end, the favourite turned her fourth match point into a 6-3 and 7-6 (6) win and is now in the quarter-finals.

Agnieszka Radwanska was also in action and had an up-and-coming young American, Catherine Bellis, as her opponent. She also showed in passage what she was made of. The 18-year-old played well against Radwanska and forced a tiebreak. However, the more experienced of the two players secured this 7:4. In the second round the whole class of “Agi” showed up and Bellis was the long first set. After only 32 minutes, Radwanska won the second set 6-0 and also entered the quarter-finals.

The Czech Petra Kvitova caught a black day. The 27-year-old had to admit defeat to the Italian outsider Camila Giorgi in two sets with 6:7 (7) and 2:6 and missed the dress rehearsal for the Australian Open, which will start in a week’s time.

The single panel in Sydney