Agnieszka Radwanska wins her second title of the year as she captures the 2016 Connecticut Open title over Elina Svitolina.
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Agnieszka Radwanska held off Elina Svitolina in a second set tiebreak to win her 19th career WTA title in New Haven. Agnieszka Radwanska is now a flawless 2-0 in her championship matches this year.
Radwanska, the fourth seed at the US Open, faces American Jessica Pegula in the first round at Flushing Meadows, with a potential semi-final encounter against top seed Serena Williams.
“It’s always very special”, Radwanska said just after the win to ESPN’s Renee Stubbs on her 19th title. Radwanska raced out to a 5-0 lead thanks to her trademark mixture of spins and slices.
She ran the 21-year-old Ukrainian all over the court, chasing down shots and placing her own with pinpoint accuracy.
“Winning a tournament like this, not losing a set, it means I really played good tennis”, Radwanska said. Suddenly, in the second set, she started to play much better and I was really in trouble. It included three service breaks for each player and a 37-shot rally in the ninth game. Yet, Radwanska would earn a key break to serve for the match up 5-4 after Svitolina netted a forehand on break point.
The two-time Wimbledon champion committed 17 unforced errors in the first set and never got into the match, which was completed in 77 minutes.
Svitolina said it was a disappointing first set, but an otherwise encouraging week. Playing on the same surface as the Open, Radwanska was at times dominant in her four victories – she beat Jelena Ostapenko, Kirsten Flipkens, Kvitova and Svitolina. “She’s not playing very hard, but she’s using her speed, she’s putting everything in”, Kvitova said.
Svitolina gave lucky loser Johanna Larson of Sweden a 6-4, 6-2 beating in a semifinal in front of 4,184 in the afternoon session.
She becomes the first top seed to win since Caroline Wozniacki did it in 2011. The title is Radwanska’s second this season after taking the Shenzhen Open in China in January.
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Radwanska, who enters next week’s US Open as the No. 4 seed, faced off in Saturday’s final against Elina Svitolina. That means a chance for up to an extra $1 million, depending on her finish in NY next week, where she will be the No. 4 seed. So now it’s everything in my power to do good in the US Open.
