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Saturday, 12 January 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
SYDNEY–Reuters: Agnieszka Radwanska humbled Dominika Cibulkova 6-0 6-0 in a ruthless display of all-court tennis to win her second Australian Open warm-up tournament in two weeks at the Sydney International on Friday.
The Pole, seeded fourth for Melbourne Park and a winner in Auckland last week, secured her ninth straight victory from the start of the year in a little over an hour of one-sided tennis when the hapless Cibulkova double faulted.
Radwanska tempered her celebrations out of respect for her opponent and said she felt sympathy for the Slovakian, who had beaten three top-10 players on her way to the final.
“That’s tennis and these things happen,” she said. “But I feel bad...because for sure she didn’t deserve that result.
“It’s been an amazing two weeks,” Radwanska added. “I’ve won two titles and not lost a set. If I can play like that in Melbourne, I’ll be very happy.”
David Ferrer, the men’s fourth seed for Melbourne Park, earlier underlined his own Australian Open threat by thrashing Gael Monfils 6-1 6-2 to reach the final of the Auckland Open and remain on course for a fourth title at the tournament.
Undoubtedly aided by a leg injury suffered by Monfils early in the first set, Ferrer needed just 49 minutes to dispose of the French former world number seven, five minutes less than he required to win his quarter-final against Lukas Lacko.
The Spaniard will face Philipp Kohlschreiber in Saturday’s final after the German beat American Sam Querrey 6-4 7-6 in the earlier semi-final.
Former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro also expended little effort in reaching the final of the Kooyong Classic, easing past Marcos Baghdatis 6-4 6-1 at the former Australian Open venue.
The world number seven, who has been drawn to play a qualifier in the first round of the year’s first grand slam, will meet former world number one Lleyton Hewitt in Saturday’s final at the exhibition event.
