Onetime Hilton Head tennis standout knocks off world No. 3 in China
Alison Riske scored possibly the biggest victory of her young career with a convincing upset of world No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska, moving into the semifinals of the Shenzhen Open with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 triumph in China.
Riske, a former Van der Meer Academy student, avenged a loss to Radwanska in last year’s Shenzhen final by breaking the top seed’s serve three times in both the first and third sets. The Polish ace captured just six points in the final set.
“I think she was really playing very solid tennis from the beginning to the end,” Radwanska told reporters after the match. “She hit the ball well and served well, and very consistent.”
For Riske, currently 39th in the world rankings, it marked her first victory over a top-5 opponent. The 26-year-old pro was 0-4 previously, including a third-round loss to Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon three summers ago.
Her lone WTA Tour victory also came in China, winning the Tianjin Open in 2014 and reaching the final again last year.
“It was an up-and-down match,” Riske told reporters. “I just focused on the next point, and tried to play point by point.”
Riske advanced to a semifinal match against Italy’s Camila Giorgi, with a possible encounter with world No. 10 Johanna Konta for the title. Konta will take on Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the other semifinal.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 5, 2017 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Onetime Hilton Head tennis standout knocks off world No. 3 in China."