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Kvitova made 53 unforced errors to Radwanska’s five in that match, which pretty much tells its own story. The Czech may have struggled with her movement, but Radwanska – clearly emotional in the moments following victory – will be a popular winner. That’s the biggest title of her career and it was richly deserved, a fitting reward for her tenacity and extraordinary consistency. Thanks for reading.
Radwanska wins the third set and the match, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3!
Third set: Kvitova* 2-6, 6-4, 3-6 Radwanska (* denotes server)
Radwanska is the WTA Finals champion! A brief exchange on the opening point ends with Kvitova netting a forehand in tame fashion. If that makes her feel bad, the Radwanska return that drops off the net cord for a winner to bring up 0-30 will only have compounded the agony. The Czech then goes wide with a forehand approach. That produces three match points for the Pole, but she only needs the one as Kvitova drags one last forehand into the net.
Third set: Kvitova* 2-6, 6-4, 3-5 Radwanska (* denotes server)
As we pass the two-hour mark, Radwanska holds to 30 to end that three-game sequence of dropped service games. Kvitova will have to serve to stay in it.
Third set: Kvitova* 2-6, 6-4, 3-4 Radwanska (* denotes server)
Kvitova’s eighth double fault stalls her momentum at 30-0, enabling Radwanska to pull level in the game before unleashing a superb backhand pass to bring up break point. The Czech hits back with a huge serve-and-forehand routine, and when she races to her left to pound a laser-like forehand pass for a winner at deuce, she lets out a huge scream of triumph. But Radwanska claws her way back again, and another double fault a couple of deuces later sets up a third consecutive break. This really is a match of unremitting drama.
Third set: Kvitova 2-6, 6-4, 3-3 Radwanska*(* denotes server)
Bravo. Injured but not out, Petra produces some virtuoso hitting on the opening point before making a successful foray to the net on the second. A wonderful crosscourt backhand brings up three break points, and although Radwanska pulls a point back with a lovely forehand winner, another crushing backhand brings Kvitova level again. A Polish procession for a set and a half, this match is now too close to call.
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Third set: Kvitova* 2-6, 6-4, 2-3 Radwanska (* denotes server)
A wild backhand at 15-15, struck well wide even of the doubles court, raises the possibility that Kvitova might be going off the boil. A big ace down the middle and a penetrating drive, struck deep into the Radwanska forehand, appear to put the lie to that notion. But a fine forehand pass from the Pole is followed, at deuce, by a hashed attempt at a drop half-volley from Kvitova, who then sends a forehand long to yield the break. To compound the Czech’s misery, she seems to be feeling that thigh injury again; there was a visible grimace on her final shot there.
Third set: Kvitova 2-6, 6-4, 2-2* Radwanska (* denotes server)
There’s a brief lull in the drama as Radwanska seals a love game to level the set. But make no mistake, the match is beautifully poised right now.
Third set: Kvitova* 2-6, 6-4, 2-1 Radwanska (* denotes server)
Radwanska isn’t out of this yet. At 15-15, a beautiful drop volley from the Pole, caressed across the face of the net for a winner at full stretch, provides the platform for a swift break back. At 15-40, she fails to challenge a poor call after slamming away a winning forehand, but another big shot from that wing seals the game and she’s right back in this. What a match.
Third set: Kvitova 2-6, 6-4, 2-0 Radwanska* (* denotes server)
Radwanska can’t be feeling good about life just now. The second-set statistics show that she made no unforced errors in the second set, yet still she’s still out there. Moreover, she’s up against an opponent who runs the gamut between wonderful and woeful, which must be infuriating. And to compound her misery, Kvitova is now a break to the good after pounding an unanswerable forehand into the corner to clinch a lengthy deuce game. She may have flirted with disaster in the group stage, but she’ll surely be devastated if she fails to find a way through this.
Third set: Kvitova* 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 Radwanska (* denotes server)
She opens the game with a couple of howling errors, storms back with some wonderfully low-percentage attacking play, nets a forehand in lamentable fashion at 30-30 and then pulls the game back to deuce with a stinging, swinging first serve that her opponent simply can’t control. Of course she does, because she’s Petra Kvitova and all possibilities are open. A backhand from Radwanska that misses the sideline by about an inch is followed by a meaty Kviotva second serve on game point, and the Czech is ahead for the first time in the match. Extraordinary.
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Kvitova wins the second set 6-4!
Second set: Kvitova 2-6, 6-4 Radwanska*(* denotes server)
Kvitova secures another break and we’re all square. It’s important to remember that Radwanska is doing nothing different here: Kvitova has found her way back into this match on merit, by opening her shoulders and taking the initiative. Crucially, she’s now find the court with her best shots, too. A series of rapier-like forehands bring up 15-40, and a jubilant Kvitova slams a forehand winner on the first set point to draw proceedings level. Remarkable.
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Second set: Kvitova* 2-6, 5-4 Radwanska (* denotes server)
So much better from Kvitova, who is finally hitting more winners than unforced errors. A fifth double fault briefly threatens to stall her revival, but a heavy first serve at 40-15 secures the hold and Radwanska will now have to serve to stay in the set. Who would have imagined that a few games ago?
Second set: Kvitova 2-6, 4-4 Radwanska* (* denotes server)
“Full-scale bombardment? What full-scale bombardment?” That seems to be the message from the poker-faced Radwanska as she holds to 15. It wasn’t all plain sailing – Kvitova absolutely leathered a return at 40-0, and only just failed to find the line with another huge forehand on the next point – but Aggie will be pleased to have stalled her opponent’s momentum.
Second set: Kvitova* 2-6, 4-3 Radwanska (* denotes server)
What a difference a break makes. Kvitova seals another love game with some wonderful serving, and she’s now won eight points in a row. What a turnaround. You just never know what to expect from the Czech, a thought that must be crossing Radwanska’s mind as the players change ends.
Second set: Kvitova 2-6, 3-3 Radwanska* (* denotes server)
Hello, what’s this? A love break sealed by a huge forehand return that flashes crosscourt for an unreachable winner, that’s what. Remarkable. It may be the first Radwanska service game from which Kvitova has emerged error-free. As her enterprise and consistency reap dividends, could this be the start of something for the Czech?
Second set: Kvitova* 2-6, 2-3 Radwanska (* denotes server)
It’s perhaps a measure of Kvitova’s state of mind that, having seen an attempted drop-shot winner called wide at 40-0, she fails to challenge. The replay shows the call was correct, but it was a tight one and you’d have expected her to contest it. Is she starting to feel this match is a done deal? Probably not, although given the lengths to which she has to go to seal the game – she finally wins it with a crushing backhand winner at 40-30, but not before seeing Radwanska run down at least three shots that would have beaten most players – you could hardly blame her if she did.
Second set: Kvitova 2-6, 1-3 Radwanska* (* denotes server)
Radwanska marches on. That’s her second love game of the match and she’s showing no sign of nerves as she closes in on one of the game’s biggest titles. Whether that’ll remain the case come the business end of this set, we’ll see.
Second set: Kvitova 2-6, 1-2 Radwanska* (* denotes server)
Better from Kvitova. She’s still making too many errors, she’s still hampered by that thigh injury, but you have to give her credit for staying aggressive. As in the opening set, she makes an impression on the scoreboard after three games. A crumb of comfort for the Czech.
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Second set: Kvitova 2-6, 0-2 Radwanska* (* denotes server)
Kvitova is doing her best to stay in this, she really is. But open her shoulders as she might, Radwanska is getting the better of her in every department. The Pole is more consistent, she’s moving better, and her range and fluency from the back are providing the perfect platform for victory. Radwanska seals a comfortable game with a lovely, guided flicked winner off the forehand, and it looks a long way back for Kvitova now.
Second set: Kvitova* 2-6, 0-1 Radwanska (* denotes server)
A game of several deuces ends with the point of the match as Kvitova, looking increasingly laboured in her movement, yields a potentially decisive break. The rally that clinches it for Radwanska is a real beauty, with the Pole defending madly from the baseline until she gets just enough on a forehand pass to confound her opponent at the net. Aggie is really turning on the style now – scrambling, slicing, retrieving, getting down improbably low from the baseline – and it looks like she’s simply got too much variety and finesse for the Czech. That point is underlined at 0-15, when the Pole races to her left to slice a wonderful short-angled backhand for a winner. How Kvitova must wish she could move with the same freedom.
Radwanska wins the first set 6-2!
First set: Kvitova 2-6 Radwanska* (* denotes server)
Oh, Petra. Facing three set points at 40-0, the Czech crushes a cross-court backhand for a winner. It’s an indication of what she’s capable, but those moments have been few and far between so far. Radwanska, on the other hand, made just one unforced error in that set. What a performance from the Pole. She’s a set to the good and, so long as that heavily-strapped right leg holds up – and I should mention that Kvitova too has a bandaged thigh – she’s in pole position for the biggest title of her career.
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First set: Kvitova* 2-5 Radwanska (* denotes server)
A more settled game from Kvitova, who rallies her way out of trouble at 15-30 before sending down a viciously sliced serve to bring up game point. A successful foray to the net earns the Czech her second game of the match, and she’ll be grateful for small mercies at this point. I think that’s what’s meant by the fist pump and cry of “Come on!” with which she greets that winning forehand volley, at any rate.
First set: Kvitova 1-5 Radwanska* (* denotes server)
In many ways, Aggie Radwanska – a player who always makes you play one more ball – is the worst opponent Kvitova could face when not firing on all cylinders. A terrible attempted drop shot on the opening point sets the tone for another poor game from the Czech, while Radwanska is flawless. She seals the game to love and looks to be growing in confidence by the minute.
First set: Kvitova* 1-4 Radwanska (* denotes server)
Textbook enigmatic from Kvitova. At 30-30, she misses the simplest of overheads. Staring at a double break, she then plays an irresistible point, all sweeping forehands and polished power. It’s to no avail, though. She quickly finds herself break point down again, and her 13th unforced error yields the second break. Is it safe yet to say that the Czech is having an off day? Maybe. Just maybe.
First set: Kvitova 1-3 Radwanska* (* denotes server)
Welcome to a game in the life of Petra Kvitova. After outhitting Radwanksa on the opening point, the Czech coughs up a couple of cheap errors. But at 15-30 she looks a world beater, pulling her opponent this way and that before slamming a backhand winner into the open court. What does she do next? Why, outmanoeuvre her opponent only to miss an attempted pass with the court at her mercy, of course. Same old, same old. Radwanska closes the game with a fine serve that Petra can barely lay a racket on.
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First set: Kvitova* 1-2 Radwanska (* denotes server)
If Kvitova is feeling a little heavy-limbed after that win against Sharapova, her best bet is to keep the points short. Opening with an ace helps, as does racing to a 40-0 lead; double-faulting before netting a makeable forehand, not so much. Still, a swinging ace wide to the advantage court at 40-30 seals the game. How she needed that.
First set: Kvitova 0-2 Radwanska* (* denotes server)
An aggressive return from Kvitova at 15-15 exposes the tameness of the Radwanska second serve, and the Czech follows up with a crisp drive volley. But poor net coverage on the next point, which Radwanska wins with a guided forehand pass, brings the Pole level again and a couple of Kvitova unforced errors later she’s home and dry. Petra is yet to get going. A letdown from that dramatic semi-final victory over Sharapova, perhaps?
First set: Kvitova* 0-1 Radwanska (* denotes server)
Which Petra will turn up today? Well, if the opening game is any indication, Radwanska’s chances of claiming the biggest title of her career are already on the up. The Czech opens with a miserable double fault and follows up by hooking a forehand hopelessly wide. She drills a two-hander into the bottom of the net for 15-40 and, although she claws back the first break point with a fine body serve, another missed backhand gives Radwanska the break.
Amid much glitz and excitement in the Singapore indoor arena – think packed house, electronic billboards flashing messages in lurid pink, deafening music, colourful strobe lighting – the players are out and warming up. How they can concentrate with all that going on is a mystery. Kvitova won the toss and will serve first.
So what should we expect from this match? The first thing to say is that Kvitova, who has won six of her eight encounters with Radwanska, has all the weapons required to dominate this match. Radwanska thrives on time to work her all-court magic, and that’s something the Czech – with her big serve, heavy groundstrokes and fine net play – can deny her. The problem for Kvitova is inconsistency. Brilliant one minute, awful the next – as her results at the event suggest – she is often her own worst enemy. But if she can touch the heights she scaled in the second set against Sharapova on Saturday, when the shot-making from both players was of the highest order, the willowy left-hander should be the favourite here. As for Radwanska, she is the thinking person’s player, a woman John McEnroe has described as “the female Federer”. At her best, she has the ability to absorb Kvitova’s power and deploy her wily array of spins and angles to frustrate the Czech. She’ll need to move well but, if she can pull Kvitova off the court and keep pace with the improbable angles the Czech is capable of conjuring, she’ll have a major say in the outcome.
Hello and welcome
A few days ago, the idea that Agnieszka Radwanska and Petrova Kvitova would be the last women standing at the season-ending WTA Finals seemed little short of outlandish. The sixth-ranked Radwanska arrived in Singapore with tournament wins in Tokyo and Tianjin under her belt, but defeat in her opening two matches of the round-robin phase hardly suggested she was on course for a third final in little more than a month. Radwanska’s red group campaign began with defeats to Maria Sharapova and Flavia Pennetta, and it took a win over Simona Halep – the top seed in Singapore in the absence of Serena Williams – just to secure an outside chance of survival. The Pole eventually qualified for the last four only by virtue of Sharapova’s win against Pennetta, the retiring US Open champion. It was no less touch and go for Kvitova, who made typically topsy-turvy progress through white group. The Czech, a double Wimbledon winner and also champion at the WTA Finals four years ago in Istanbul, lost to Angelique Kerber and Garbiñe Muguruza, and it was only a win over her countrywoman and close friend Lucie Safarova – who subsequently did her a favour by beating Germany’s Angelique Kerber – that kept her in the hunt.
Never before have two players successfully negotiated the group stage with one victory from three matches, but both women made the most of the lifeline handed to them by the vagaries of the round-robin format. Radwanska made the final after coming through an absorbing and emotional three-setter against the second-seeded Muguruza, thus avenging her recent defeat to the Spaniard in Beijing, while Kvitova recovered from 5-1 down in the second set of her semi-final against Sharapova to close out a straight-sets win. How much they’ll have left in the tank is open to question. Radwanska, swathed in bandages, has hardly painted a picture of good health this week, while Kvitova – who took a couple of months off due to mental exhaustion earlier in the year – looked thoroughly out of sorts at times during the group stages. Still, the home straight is beckoning – this is the last match of the WTA season, although Kvitova also has the minor matter of a Fed Cup final against Russia later this month to consider – and this is the most important totle in the women’s game outside the grand slams. Here’s hoping for one last push from both women.
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