Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska stayed patient in the face of a barrage of big serving to advance to the last four of the WTA Finals for the third time in a row with a 7-5 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova yesterday.
The defending champion came into the contest with a 6-0 record against the powerful Czech Republic player and maintained her dominance over last month’s losing US Open finalist to set up a mouth-watering semi-final against Germany’s world number one Angelique Kerber.
After compiling identical 1-1 records in their first two round robin matches, both losing to Kuznetsova but beating Muguruza, yesterday’s contest was a winner-takes-all affair and Radwanska kept her composure on the key points to advance.
“It was a very tight match and I was happy I could do my best at the important moments,” the world number three Radwanska told reporters.
“You just wait and pray that her first serve isn’t going to be in and take you chances on the second serve.
“She’s one of the best servers on the tour so I knew it was going to be tough.”
Earlier in the day, Garbine Muguruza ended her campaign with a 3-6 6-0 6-1 consolation victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova, who still emerged as the White Group winner and will face Dominika Cibulkova in the other semi-final today.