“I was just really thrilled that despite not playing these last few months and not playing my best tennis, I was able to take myself to another level physically, which I didn’t exactly expect that I would be able to”. With Sharapova still rusty, this should be the World No. 2’s best possible opportunity to post her first ever win against the five-time major victor. She needs Sharapova to beat Halep to have hopes of remaining in the tournament. Several fresh names hit the spotlight this year as we started to see a more diverse group of players getting big wins, Serena Williams suddenly withdrew from the season after her near-miss at a Calendar Slam, and of course, a flabbergasted Flavia Pennetta won the US Open alongside an even more surprised Roberta Vinci as a finalist. At 5-4, she double-faulted on her first match point, but won the match two points later when Radwanska netted a forehand.
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She also took a rest from her last game at Wuhan tournament in China after her wrist injury stopped her from completing the third set of her match.
Said the world No. 3: “I might have to go through rust, get over some moments where I make a few errors”. Although she surrendered one of her two service breaks in the seventh game, she prevailed to send the match into the decisive third set. However, it was great to have won a match against such a tough competitor as Radwanska as they have always had hard matches.
Evina Svitolina also progressed up one place to regain her top 20 ranking.
“Coming into this event, I tried to do everything I could to be healthy and although I didn’t play my best tennis today, sometimes that’s not what matters”, Sharapova said of a match that lasted two hours, 48 minutes with a large portion of games going to deuce.
Radwanska immediately broke, but it was not enough to give her the edge as Pennetta snatched serve once again to force the set into a tie-break, which the Italian clinched 7-5. The way she absorbed Victoria Azarenka’s pace and power and served beautifully at the US Open was admirable. Simona put on a good show at the US Open, but she lost to fellow Red Group member Flavia Pennetta.
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“I was very exhausted after my match against (Victoria) Azarenka, and then I was without energy when I played with Flavia”.
