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 The Polish world number five claimed a 6-4 6-7 (3) 6-1 win to put
her country 1-0 up in the mixed team event. Jerzy Janowicz is next
on court against American John Isner able to seal the title with
victory prior to the mixed doubles later on Saturday.
"When I go and play against her, you have nothing really to lose,
she is number one in the world and a great champion," Radwanska told
reporters of her beaten foe.
"It doesn't matter what the score is. It's never over, she's a great
fighter. I'm just very happy that I could come back after that
second set and play my good game in the third set.
"Wins like this always give a lot of confidence."
Radwanska's first victory over Williams in nine meetings comes after
she signed up former American great Martina Navratilova as a coach.
 Williams, who also lost to Eugenie Bouchard of Canada earlier this
week in the round robin, could have done with some advice from the
18-times grand slam singles champion after struggling in the opening
set.
The American's forehand was particularly troublesome, contributing
to many of her 28 unforced errors as she was broken twice early on
to fall 4-1 behind before losing out 6-4.
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The second went with serve as Radwanska pushed and pulled Williams
around the court, with the powerful American retaliating by
bludgeoning some heavy winners in an even contest.
The Pole, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open last year, then
broke Williams to go 6-5 up and serve for the match but she was
unable to put the American down as the world number one broke back
to force a tiebreak that she took 7-3.
However, that was as good as it got for Williams, who will be
seeking a 19th grand slam title in Australia, as she collapsed in
the third to allow Radwanska to claim the moral boosting win.
The Australian Open begins in Melbourne on Jan. 19.
(Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; editing by Amlan
Chakraborty)
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