1-2 Steps: Radwanska, Kvitova surprise in Singapore semifinals

SINGAPORE—Who would have thunk it?

On Thursday, Agnieszka Radwanska trailed Simona Halep 5-1 in the first-set tiebreak of their final round-robin match. Had the Pole lost, she would have been eliminated from the WTA Finals. But instead of heading home for a long bath after a 10-month season, Radwanska turned the contest around, winning 7-6 (5), 6-1 to advance to the semifinals despite losing two of her first three matches.

And as it turns out, she wasn’t done there. Today, Radwanska outlasted upstart Garbine Muguruza, who was 3-0 in the round-robin portion of the WTA's season-ending tournament, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5.

On Friday, it looked like Petra Kvitova looked like she was gone, too. She lost to Muguruza in three sets and, like Radwanska, finished the round-robin stage 1-2. Her only hope was that Angelique Kerber would lose to Lucie Safarova—who had already been assured a WTA Finals exit after this match—in straight sets. As it turns out, that’s exactly what happened. She defeated an angry Kerber in straights, and Kvitova was into the semis. The Czech later said that she has to buy her friend and Fed Cup teammate Safarova a nice beer.

On Saturday, Kvitova was even happier, defeating previously unbeaten Maria Sharapova, 6-3, 7-6 (3), to reach the final.

“It's very weird,” Kvitova said about all the recent events. “Yesterday I was talking about my season, and it's still not over yet. I couldn't really believe that I going to play semifinal; now I'm the final, which is very interesting. I'm really looking forward. I think Aga is kind of in the same situation, so it's going to be interesting.”

Radwanska had lost four matches against Muguruza this year, and while three of those contents went the distance, the fact is, she had been unable to overcome her. On Saturday, she did everything she could to turn the tables: Radwanska flipped her low backhand when Muguruza went the other way; she sliced her backhand low so that the Spaniard couldn't take a huge swing; she lobbed high when the 22-year-old was rushing the net; she even cracked some heavy serves into her body. Aga wanted to try everything.

But while Muguruza was a bit tired after playing all week in the singles doubles, she wouldn’t give in easily. She had won eight singles matches in a row between Beijing and Singapore. The 6-footer has a gigantic first serve, and she crushes her backhand deep. She jumps off her second returns and goes directly for winners. She was comfortable running around against Radwanska, but any time she had an opportunity to nail the corners, she did so.

The first set went to Muguruza, who at one point trailed 2-4—both in games played and in the eventual tiebreak. But she pushed back at just the right moments, while Radwanska rushed and watched as her forehand disintegrated. Undettered, Radwanska raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set. She would lose the next three games, but the deficit was too great for Muguruza to overcome. To a third set it went.

For the third straight set, Radwanska led 4-2. For the third straight set, Muguruza rallied, and leveled at 4-4. But unlike in Sydney, Wimbledon and Beijing, Radwanska wouldn't fold or back away when she was so close to the finish line. Rediscovering her strokes in time, she snared the set 7-5 and—finally—claimed victory over younger rival.

Muguruza calls Radwanska “La Profesora,” a nod to her intelligent shotmaking on the court. Radwanska replied with a nickname of her own.

“A bomb,” Radwanska said of Muguruza, “because she's very explosive, especially from every shot. So forehand, backhand, serve, return, everything is coming to you so fast. I think it's going to suit her.”

Sharapova entered her match against Kvitova with a 6-3 head-to-head advantage, but their last match went to Kvitova at this very event, last year. This week’s numbers certainly favored Sharapova: Despite having not played a completed match since Wimbledon, she won all three of her round-robin matches. She was thrilled to be on court again. For her part, Kvitova had said that her body was still not at 100 percent.

It didn’t look that way today, as the left-hander never backed down. She whipped her vicious forehand, applied pressure with strong backhands, and took command of the match. Any time Kvitova had a chance to attack Sharapova’s second serve, she’d swing as hard as she could. Usually, Sharapova loves to go toe-to-toe against another big servers, but on this day, Kvitova was the one dictating.

Kvitova won the first set easily, 6-3, but Sharapova immediately took charge in the second. The five-time Grand Slam champion quickly went up 5-1, using her favored serves up the T and going down the line whenever she could during rallies.  

But even in that precarious position, Kvitova wasn’t thinking about a third set. As Sharapova said herself, she stopped being aggressive—and all of a sudden, Kvitova won four consecutive games with a string of winners. Sharapova regrouped in time to force a tiebreak, and took a 2-0 lead with a forehand and huge serve. But like earlier in the set, Sharapova couldn't handle prosperity. Five backhands went awry as Sharapova’s game fell apart.  

Kvitova, shrieking in victory, as she wants to do, looked forward to facing Radwanska in an unlikely but compelling final.  

“She’s very smart,” Kvitova said about her opponent. “I think she has a lot the variety on the court,” Kvitova said. “She getting so many balls, so sometimes it feels that she's never-ending story on the court.”