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Mattek-Sands pulls off major Sydney upset

Bethanie Mattek-Sands, shown at the 2013 French Open, ousted top-seeded and defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska during Tuesday's second-round action at the Apia International Sydney tennis tournament. UPI/David Silpa
Bethanie Mattek-Sands, shown at the 2013 French Open, ousted top-seeded and defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska during Tuesday's second-round action at the Apia International Sydney tennis tournament. UPI/David Silpa | License Photo

SYDNEY, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Bethanie Mattek-Sands ousted top-seeded and defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets Tuesday at the Apia International Sydney tennis tournament.

Mattek-Sands had seven breaks in the 11 games that Radwanska served en route to a 7-5, 6-2 second-round victory.

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Mattek-Sands had won three qualifying matches and a first-rounder for a shot at Radwanska, who is No. 5 in the world rankings. Radwanska had a 5-3 lead in the first set but Mattek-Sands caught a second wind and reeled off seven consecutive games to take the first set and go up 3-0 in the second.

It was the fifth consecutive loss for Radwanska, who was beaten by world No. 1 Serena Williams in the semifinals in Beijing and then dropped all three of her round-robin matches at the WTA Championship's last year. Tuesday marked her first match of 2014.

Lucie Safarova also posted an upset, taking out sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) in about 2 hours.

Second-seeded Petra Kvitova was very sharp in 6-1, 6-0 romp past Christina McHale. Kvitova won 71 percent of the points on serve and 59 percent when receiving in the hour-long match.

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No. 3-seeded Sara Errani defeated Lauren Davis 7-5, 6-2 and Angelique Kerber, the fifth-seed, was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Kaia Kanepi.

Also Tuesday in second-round action, Madison Keys beat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), Carla Suarez Navarro topped Ekaterina Makarova 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; and Tsvetana Pironkova defeated Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 6-2.

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