Pennetta improves to 1-1 at WTA Finals by beating Radwanska

Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland watches her return against Flavia Pennetta of Italy during their singles match at the WTA tennis finals in Singapore on Tuesday, October 27, 2015.

Yet completing the three round-robin matches might be a tall order for the rusty Russian, whose last full outing was the Wimbledon semi-final in July following a succession of leg and arm injuries. However, the Romanian must face up to the challenge of the Russian tennis star and set goals to win against Sharapova. Now, like Simona, Aga does have a very poor record against Maria (2-12) and will still be the underdog in their match.

It was a wobbly start for the US Open champion as she lost serve in her opening game of the first set, but she was able to bounce back later to level proceedings at 3-3. “But you know what?” To get a feel for how the Finals might go, let’s take a look at who’s who and what we should expect. She was able to save a couple of break points in the seventh game after an ace and a forehand pass from the Pole found the net.

In the first set, Sharapova netted a backhand on a second break point in the ninth game to hand Radwanska the service break. It may have been nerves or lack of match play, but Sharapova allowed Radwanska back into the match.

With the WTA Tour coming to an end for yet another year, the latest set of WTA Rankings have been released and there have been a few pretty big movers following the elite eight players competing in Singapore as well as all the action from Moscow and Luxembourg. However, it was great to have won a match against such a tough competitor as Radwanska as they have always had hard matches. She needs Sharapova to beat Halep to have hopes of remaining in the tournament. The two exchange a series of cross-court backhands in a long rally until Halep picks out the corner with a sublime victor as she dominates the first set 6-0. American world No. 1 Serena Williams, who won the other three majors of the season and came within two matches of pulling off a rare calendar-year Grand Slam, announced earlier this month that she would not play the WTA Finals because she needed to give her body a chance to recover from the gruelling season.

The Romanian saved both break points she faced in the second set and broke Pennetta’s serve four times.