Radwanska to Battle Zvonareva in Tokyo Final
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September 30, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Vera Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska will battle for the Tokyo title after wins over Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka respectively.
Russian star Vera Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska will battle it out in this week’s Toray Pan Pacific Open final in Tokyo after negotiating semi-final victories over Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka in the early hours of Friday morning.
But it could have been a completely different outcome had Kvitova not blown a 5-1 first set lead against Zvonareva on her way to defeat.
The battle of the number four and number five seeds took the most monumental of swings after Wimbledon Champion Kvitova had opened up a 5-1 lead. And with three set points on her mammoth serve she would have expected to see the set out, but Zvonareva had other ideas.
Clawing it back, she took the first set on a tie-break, then a visibly shocked Kvitova collapsed further, allowing Zvonareva to take the second set, and a place in the final, 7-6(2), 6-0.
“I don’t even remember being down 5-1 in the first set!” Zvonareva said afterwards. “I wasn’t really thinking about it at all. I was just trying to find my rhythm - I couldn’t find it in the beginning, and she was playing really well. But I slowly got into the match, making the shots I usually make. Then I was able to turn it around.”
Kvitova, though, was refusing to look on the negatives after letting her opponent come back. “I started really well but I couldn’t keep it up, and Vera was playing better and better,” she said.
“The second set was closer than it looked - I had chances to break, but I couldn’t. I don’t really know what else to say, other than it was a good week and I’m happy I played here. I’m back in my game after a disappointing US Open.”
Despite the loss, Kvitova is set to climb to a career-high number five in the world next week on the back of her time in Tokyo.
The other semi-final was a much closer affair.
The number nine seed Radwanska also looked set to cruise into the final when she led 6-2, 4-2, but she too took her foot off the gas and allowed the third seeded Belarusian back in to the contest.
The fire and drive which had allowed Azarenka to force a deciding set again troubled Radwanska in the third as she struggled to finish the Wimbledon semi-finalist off. Azarenka saved the first three match points, but Radwanska was eventually able to complete the victory at the fourth time of asking and face an opponent she has already beaten twice this year at Carlsbad and Toronto.
If Zvonareva can stop the rot against the Pole then she will return to the number two ranking in the world, her highest position since late October last year.
By Leigh Gruffydd Sanders
[Image courtesy of Charlie Cowins]
