A day after the Mallorca Open lost its No.1 seed Garbine Muguruza in the first round, Birmingham’s top seed Agnieszka Radwanska also crashed out in round one to in-form Coco Vandeweghe, who extended her winning streak to six on grass this season, following her Ricoh Open triumph.
The Premier-level tournament in Birmingham has been hit by so much rain that Radwanska probably couldn’t help but be reminded of her frustrating Roland Garros exit, when the officials didn’t want to stop play even though the court was soaked with water. Today, however, the Pole didn’t complain about the conditions and gave all the credit to her opponent, saying:
She was really consistent and solid. No free points from her. You can really see how she won the tournament last week.
The 32nd-ranked Vandeweghe had never before won a set off Radwanska in their four previous encounters and today’s hard-fought 7-5 4-6 6-3 victory is her first over a Top 5 player. While Radwanska is yet to adjust to grass, Vandeweghe’s game had depth and although it had its wobbles as well, most notably when she got broken when serving for the match, the American finished the match one game later and progressed into the second round where she’ll face fellow American Christina McHale.
