Agnieszka Radwanska disposed of a pesky Daniela Hantuchova on her eighth match-point to make the final of the San Diego Open with a 6-4, 6-2 victory on Saturday.
The 21-year-old Pole will meet two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final, after the powerful Russian stormed to a crushing 6-4, 6-0 win over Italy’s Flavia Pennetta.
Radwanska, who has been in good touch in the US hard-court season, darted around the court to wrong-foot her taller opponent and charged into the net at every opportunity.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Slovak Hantuchova fought off seven match-points in the 20-minute seventh game of the second set, but was bested in the following game by a service winner.
“She was serving so good in that long game I was thinking: ‘Can you just miss one serve?’” said Radwanska, a semi-finalist at the previous week’s Stanford Classic. “Thank god, I took the last one.”
World No. 10 Radwanska last played Kuznetsova in the final of the China Open in October last year which the Russian won 6-2, 6-4 to improve her head-to-head record to 6-3 against the Pole.
Radwanska is likely to face a similar stiff test in the San Diego final, after Kuznetsova showed glimpses of the form that delivered her the French Open title last year.
The Russian mixed up speeds and spins to stifle the fleet-footed Pennetta, breaking the 15th-ranked Italian five times with slick service returns and with her forehand on song.
“I served really bad and she was just more powerful than me,” said Pennetta, who has lost to Kuznetsova in all four of their meetings. “She was always getting on top of my ball and had me running all the time. She has a strong base.”
Kuznetsova sealed the win with a cracking forehand return, her 26th of the match.
“She doesn’t overpower me, but I know how to read her game,” the 25-year-old said. “I can mix it up and she doesn’t know where I’m going to go.”
The Russian has fallen to her lowest ranking in six years at No. 21 after being dumped out of Wimbledon early, but training at the Russian seaside resort of Sochi seems to have helped her regain her touch.
“I’m playing better, but I’m far from where I want to be,” she said.
■DANISH OPEN
AFP, COPENHAGEN
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki struggled into the final of her home Danish Open on Saturday with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 win over Russia’s Anna Chakvetadze.
In the final she will take on Czech world No. 51 Klara Zakopalova, who shocked second-seeded Li Na of China 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.
“I’m really happy to be in the final here,” Wozniacki said. “It was another tough match today, but I feel like I’m in good shape, so I’m fine.”
“I haven’t played Klara for a while and things have changed since then, but she’s having a great tournament, playing aggressively and going for her shots. I’m just going to enjoy myself out there and try my best,” the 20-year-old added, referring to the pair’s sole meeting at the Japan Open nearly three years ago which Wozniacki won in a third-set tiebreak.
Having been ranked as high as No. 27 in 2006, Zakopalova is no stranger to WTA Tour finals — she’ll be playing in her 10th and gunning for a third title.
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