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While her main rivals are dominating the headlines with injury scares, high-profile guests in their player box or new marketing ventures, world No.4 Agnieszka Radwanska is quietly getting the job done.
Radwanska is letting her tennis do the talking, moving into the third round of Australian Open 2013 with a 6-3 6-3 win against Romanian Irena-Camelia Begu on Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday.
The Polish player is by no means flying under the radar. She has had a stellar start to the season, collecting titles at Auckland and Sydney in the lead-up to the year’s first Grand Slam. Her unblemished season record now stands at 11-0 and she is yet to drop a set.
Begu, a 22 year-old ranked 55 in the world, was not overwhelmed by the challenge, playing aggressively to break Radwanska in the opening game. She was soon undone by Radwanska’s consistency, with the No. 4 seed winning the next five games to take control of the set.
Radwanska served for the opening set at 5-1, but was broken. She wrapped it up two games later, 6-3, in 46 minutes.
Begu, who hit 25 unforced errors in the first set to Radwanska’s eight, had a medical time-out for a shoulder concern at the end of the set.
Radwanska, a three-time Australian Open quarter-finalist, meant business in the second set, jumping to a 2-0 lead. Begu kept fighting, though, and got the break back to level stay in it at three-all.
Just as she had done all match, Radwanska responded when challenged. She won the next three games to take the set 6-3 in 40 minutes, sealing victory with a volley.
She will play either Great Britain’s Heather Watson or Kazakhstan’s Ksenia Pervak in the third round.