Murray, Radwanska bask in Beijing glory
Print Edition
ANDY Murray won the China Open in Beijing last night, defeating Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 7-6 (2), in a hard-fought match that featured plenty of acrobatics from both players.
Playing in his ninth final of the season, the top-seeded Scot broke Dimitrov in the first game of the first set and again in the fifth game of the second. Murray looked to have the match in the bag serving at 5-4, but the Bulgarian finally broke his serve, then held his own to force the tiebreaker.
The finals victory was Murray’s first in three attempts at the China Open, having reached the quarterfinals on his debut and the semifinals in 2014.
Agnieszka Radwanska had an easier time of it in the women’s final, handily defeating Johanna Konta 6-4, 6-2.
The third-seeded Pole added to her 2011 victory in the Beijing tournament, notching up her 20th career title and third of 2016. She took the victory without dropping a set throughout the tournament.
Radwanska broke Konta in the third game but then was broken back in the eighth before holding her service to take the first set.
She established her dominance in the second set, breaking Konta twice before serving out for the win with an ace.
“That was a really special week for me,” Radwanska said in post-match comments. “I really played great tennis, especially against top players.”
Radwanska has now won both of the pair’s clashes. She sealed the victory with just six unforced errors to Konta’s 29.
The 11th-seeded Konta was making her first Beijing appearance and had already assured herself of a place in the next WTA top-10 rankings — the first British woman to do so since Jo Durie in 1984.
“I guess it’s pretty cool. I’m very pleased with my progress over the last few years, and hopefully, yes, still many more places to climb,” said Konta, who was making her first appearance in Beijing. “But as of now I’m really enjoying my journey, I’m really enjoying working hard and really working towards playing matches like these against players like Agnieszka. So hopefully I’ll have many more in the future.”
In Tokyo, Nick Kyrgios claimed his third, and biggest, title of the year, when rallying to beat David Goffin at the Rakuten Japan Open yesterday.
The big-serving Australian won a tight match, in which there were only three breaks, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Goffin was left to rue five spurned break points in the third game of the second set, when he had Kyrgios 0-40. Kyrgios held, with the help of three aces, then broke in the next game.
The Kyrgios serve proved crucial, as he fired 21 of his 25 aces in the final two sets. In contrast, Goffin’s serve fell apart in the third set, when he double-faulted six times.
Fittingly, Kyrgios served an ace down the middle to take the title. “I think my serves are what got me out of trouble,” he said. “David makes you feel like the court is small. It was a tough match.”
Marcel Granollers, of Spain, and Poland’s Marcin Matkowski, beat the second-seeded Raven Klaasen, of South Africa, and American Rajeev Ram, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the doubles final.
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