19-YEAR-OLD Agnieszka Radwanska believes that she had the perfect warm-up for Wimbledon at Devonshire Park, following her hard fought straight sets victory against number two seed Marion Bartoli.
The courageous Radwanska, who displayed some fantastic tennis, looks to be coming into form at the exact right time.
"I was injured (after the French Open)," she said, "So I'm happy I've won three tough matches.
"I'm very happy that I'm doing w
ell on grass."
Similarly to the earlier semi-final, the rain interrupted proceedings, with the covers covering the centre court at 3-3 in the first set.
When play resumed it was Radwanska who had the upper hand, wasting two set points against Bartoli's serve at 5-4, before managing to take the break, and the set, two games later.
The sheer power of Bartoli's double-handed forehand and backhand had Radwanska pinned to the baseline for much of the match, but her determination to stay in the points enabled the number four seed to find her own shots.
"She was playing very strong, very low," she said. "I was playing on my knees all the time, so it was very hard."
Bartoli broke serve to begin the second set, but Radwanska managed to immediately cancel it out with a break of her own, before gaining another crucial break to lead 3-1.
A sublime touch forehand from Radwanska at 4-3 set up another break point, which Bartoli lost with a double fault, allowing Radwanska to serve out the match.
The current number 14 in the world is looking for her third title of 2008 - her first ever on grass at senior level - when she plays Nadia Petrova of Russia in the final on Saturday, and expects a stern test.
"I played against Nadia at the Australian Open," she recalled. "It was a difficult match because I was losing 6-1, 3-0 after 20 minutes. But then I won this match.
"But she is playing very well on grass," she added.
"I'll just have fun tomorrow and get ready for Wimbledon."
Meanwhile, Bartoli refused to blame the rain delay for the loss.
"I'm quite used to it," she said. "Last year I had so many rain delays at Wimbledon, so it didn't really disturb me.
"I had a lot of chances," she continued. "It was a close match."
The pair displayed some of the best tennis seen all week at Eastbourne, and Bartoli is glad to be in good form going into SW19.
"Even when you play well, sometimes you can lose," she said. "It was not that windy, so it helped us to produce some better tennis than the days before.
"I'm happy about my overall game," she said. "I think I will be able to do well in Wimbledon if I stay at the same level."
The full article contains 478 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
