Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska declared it mission accomplished after clinching a 6-1, 7-6 (1) victory over Elina Svitolina in the final of the Connecticut Open in New Haven on Saturday.
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Following a first-round bye, Radwanska opened play against Jelena Ostapenko, who eliminated three-time Connecticut Open Champion Caroline Wozniacki in the first round.
Svitolina, who made 36 unforced errors on the day, lost the fourth game on a double-fault and couldn’t get anything going (though it was Radwanska who swung and missed at a Svitolina return that barely stayed in midway through the set).
A wild card entrant in the event, Radwanska captured the 19th WTA title of her career, and her second of 2016, after winning Shenzhen Open in China back in January.
Agnieszka Radwanska is on her way to the U.S. Open with some extra money in her pocket and a shiny new trophy.
Svitolina, 21, had a chance to get even in the match with Radwanska serving at 5-6, 15-40 in the second set. “It will be worth it, right?” Svitolina won just four points on her serve all set long and didn’t bring up a single break point. “I definitely appreciate it and I will be back next year for sure”.
“I think her game was on top”, Svitolina said. “She placed it really well”.
Carreno Busta, 25, won 6-7 (6) 7-6 (1) 6-4 in a match that lasted more than two hours 30 minutes.
Svitolina said it was a disappointing first set, but an otherwise encouraging week.
“There is no time to be sad because U.S. Open is just on Monday”, she said. But the good thing is that I was able to recover and set aside the bad feelings in the third set.
“So now it’s everything in my power to do good in the U.S. Open”, she said with a big grin.
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Not bad for a player who had never advanced past the quarterfinals in this event in five prior tries.
