These two are both 28 yo and not separated by many ranking places, currently being 42 and 28 respectively. However, Lesia Tsurenko has "only" been as high as 29 with career earnings of $2.4m, Agnieszka Radwanska has had a glittering career, been a star since her Junior days, is treated like royalty in her home country of Poland, has been #2 and top ten forever, banking $27m in prize money alone. That is where they stand in the tennis hierachy.  That is not to belittle Tsurenko , she has made the most of a game that lacks power and made a very decent living and as played as well over the last 18 months or so, as at any time in her career. Radwanska's game and maybe even her love for the sport is not what it was , but she has won 34 matches in Melbourne and is a six time quarter, two time semi finalist here (Tsurenko has won 5 matches and lost in R1 or R2 in 6 of 7 previous visits) and battled hard in R1 to beat the "other" Pliskova , who served 14 aces, in three sets. She lost the first easily and it would have been easier to lose, go home and count her money, but it is not in her nature not to fight. Here is the issue for Tsurenko, they have similar games, relying on guile and defensive qualities to make up for a lack of power, but what power there is, is with Radwanska and she does everything else just that bit, actually, quite a lot, better.

 

They have met once before a long time ago and on clay, so perhaps doesn't mean much, but might serve to illustrate that point, Tsurenko was fortunate to win one game that day, Radwanska won 20/23 first serves ( her serve is average and we are talking a slow clay court) and won 60% on return, with the Ukrainian winning just 25 points total. I have some notes on here from last summer ............

 

JO won 1&4, but it was far easier than that ! Tsurenko won 37% of points on first, 29% on second serve and hit just one winner ! She has a 33.69% win rate against top 50 ranked players, 2-6 in that category on grass, but of the two wins, one was an early retirement and the other player did not want to be there ! Konta won that in two.

 

Tsurenko has a 40.2% career winning record versus top 100 , she is 68.3% versus those ranked 100+, Radwanska has five times as many wins v top 100 opponents and a 75.1% win rate against those who are ranked 21-100. Just a different level playing the "same" game. Tsurenko IS Radwanska, you just need to shift opponents ranking places 100 spots to the right !

 

With temperatures set to be hot in the coming days I don't think that Radwanska will want to hang around after one long match already. I will take her in two.

 

 

 

 

Good Luck.