With world No. 1 Williams absent as she chooses to recover from a draining campaign, No. 2 Halep entered the end-of-season event as the top-ranked player.
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Two holds from qualifying for the semifinals, Pennetta was soon trying to hold onto her place in the set.
This isn’t the first time Halep just went away, either.
Maria Sharapova is in the semi-finals of the WTA Finals after beating US Open victor Flavia Pennetta 7-5, 6-1. While tennis bids farewell to the Italian – apart from a possible appearance at next year’s Olympics – Sharapova marched into the semi-finals alongside Agnieszka Radwanska.
Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska also booked her spot in the semifinals with a victory on Thursday, downing top-seed Simona Halep 7-6(5), 6-1. She’s had an incredible career, and I was so happy she got the Grand Slam at the U.S. Open.
She grabbed a double break to go 5-1 up in the second set before Romania’s Halep belatedly rediscovered her mojo, dragging it back to 5-4 in an inspired spell.
“I was done”, Halep said of the first set. No energy anymore. I was exhausted too. “I felt that I lost the chance to win the match in that moment”. “I think that’s a tough question but it would be nice to see Maria against Garbiñe, that would be a nice final”, she mused.
Pennetta also took the 2011 Australian Open doubles title and 2010 WTA Tour finals titles with Argentine Gisela Dulko, becoming the first Italian of either sex to be ranked doubles number one.
Halep will take on Radwanska in the other match. A leg injury hampered the 28-year-old.
Both players traded early breaks with neither enjoying an easy ride on serve before five-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova secured the set by breaking Halep, runner-up here past year, for a second time at 5-4. “I just tried to get a little bit of revenge before she’s out of the game”. If the World No. 2 can summon the fighting spirit and the belief she displayed in her first round robin win against Pennetta this year, then it would readily make things hard for the struggling Radwanska.
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The rally was short-lived, though, as the shrieking Sharapova broke in the next game to seal the match with a bruising backhand before letting out a roar of approval. I feel normal completely. Well, the tiebreak I didn’t really know that I could come back, and suddenly — I think I was really relaxed.
