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 The Pole used all of her guile and defensive skills to see off the
powerful 22-year-old, setting up a showdown against either Maria
Sharapova or Petra Kvitova in her first final at the season-ending
event in her seventh appearance.
"I didn't know I could come back after that first set. It was a
great match from the beginning to the end, lots of ups and downs, so
many rallies and a lot of running. I am just so glad I could win
that match," Radwanska said in a courtside interview.
The first set was a slow burner that turned into a thriller once
both women had settled into a rhythm but the longer the contest
progressed, the stronger Radwanska became against an opponent who is
also playing the doubles event in Singapore.
Muguruza was facing her first right-handed opponent of the week and
she took to the task with aplomb, breaking in the first game and
racing to a 40-15 lead in the second, before a confidence-sapping
sloppy run of points stalled her progress.
Radwanska worked her way into the contest after capitalizing on the
Spaniard's wayward play, reeling off four straight games and
appearing likely to ride the momentum to a one-set lead before
Muguruza came storming back to tie the scores at 4-4.
By now, both women were playing excellent tennis and the high-class
encounter moved inevitably towards a tiebreak as the service winners
increased and error count dropped.
FIST PUMP
Radwanska raced to a 3-0 lead in the tiebreak but Muguruza rallied
again to surge ahead with some aggressive play and sealed the opener
on her second set point when the Pole found the net at the end of a
brilliant rally.
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Muguruza greeted the decisive point with a fist pump and a roar but
her play at the start of the second set belied her positive body
language as Radwanska forced a plethora of errors to race to a 4-0
lead that she never looked like relinquishing.
A mini-revival in the middle of the set brought Muguruza to within
one game but Radwanska pulled away again and leveled the contest
with her third break of the set.
The exertions of her first appearance in the WTA Finals were clearly
visible on Muguruza, who appeared unable to even hit the ball over
the net in her opening service game of the decider and was broken
easily by a rampant Radwanska.
Yet somehow and from somewhere Muguruza found the energy to rally
from 4-1 down in the decider to put the contest back on a knife-edge
before Radwanska was finally able to put her opponent away with a
decisive break in the 12th game of the third set.
"I have nothing to lose tomorrow so it doesn't really matter to me
who wins tonight, I will just try and enjoy my game tomorrow and
hopefully I can play as well as I did today," the Pole said after
completing victory in two hours, 41 minutes.
(Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
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