Singapore: Svetlana Kuznetsova dug deep into her reserves to overcome Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in their WTA Finals round robin opener here, Monday, the late-arriving Russian upsetting the defending champion in a thrilling encounter.
Kuznetsova only qualified for the elite eight-woman tournament Saturday after winning the Kremlin Cup but she staved off exhaustion and a match point in the deciding set to emerge victorious over the World No.3. “At some point I was ready to just let it go and lie on the court and let them take me out of here but I decided to hang in there,” the two-time Grand Slam champion said.
The World No. 9 held a 12-4 record against Radwanska prior to the contest but after travelling from China to Russia to Singapore in consecutive weeks, few gave her a chance of recording an upset victory.
Both players looked comfortable on serve in the opening exchanges before Radwanska pounced in the fourth game, finding the corners with her backhand against a leaden-footed Kuznetsova to forge 3-1 ahead with the first break of the match.
The 31-year-old however, did not give up and broke Radwanska twice in succession to win the set 7-5.
Radwanska adopted a more aggressive approach to start the second set and the strategy paid off as she began to dictate a majority of the points, racing to a 5-1 lead on three breaks of serve and sending the match into a decider with a gutsy hold.
The Pole carried her momentum into the third set, continuing to move the Russian around to edge ahead with an early break but Kuznetsova, who gave herself an impromptu haircut at the changeover, broke back to make it 2-2.
By this stage, there was nothing between the pair with Radwanska and her weary-looking opponent unable to hold serve as the tension mounted but it was Kuznetsova who got the decisive break to seal victory after two hours and 48 minutes on her third match point.
In a late evening match Garbine Muguruza defeated Karena Pliskova 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5.
Reuters