SINGAPORE: Agnieszka Radwanska sent top seed Simona Halep crashing out of the WTA Finals on Thursday with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 win which also put a resurgent Maria Sharapova into the semi-finals.

But despite her 500th career victory, Poland’s Radwanska now faces an anxious wait as she needs the Russian to beat Italy’s Flavia Pennetta in straight sets later if she is to enter the semis.

“All I can do is watch and cheer for Maria,” Radwanska said.

There are no such complex round-robin calculations left for Halep, whose campaign was ended by Radwanska’s defensive skills and experience accumulated over seven appearances at the season finale.

The Romanian world number two, last year’s runner-up to Serena Williams on debut, made a strong start when she immediately broke Radwanska in the first game.

But the Pole broke back to level the match 3-3.

Long rallies led to a tie-break that Halep looked set to wrap up at 5-1 until Radwanska, seeded fifth, made spectacular saves at the net and went on to clinch it 7-5.

The second set became a lopsided affair as Radwanska played with renewed confidence and the now demoralised Halep’s energy flagged.

She insisted she was still happy with her injury-marred 2015 season and looked forward to a holiday.

Halep retired at the China Open with a left Achilles tendon problem going into Singapore.

Williams, who won a hat-trick at the WTA Finals last year, opted to skip Singapore to rest after losing at the US Open, leaving the field wide open.

The WTA Finals features the world’s top eight players split into Red and White round-robin pools. The top two in each pool will reach the semis, with the group winner facing the runner-up in the other to determine the finalists.

Spain’s Garbine Muguruza is on top of White Group, which also includes Germany’s Angelique Kerber and Czech players Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova.

Final standings in the group are to be determined on Friday.

Results: (x denotes seeding):

Women’s singles:

Red Group: Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x5) bt Simona Halep (ROM x1) 7-6 (7/5), 6-1; Maria Sharapova (RUS x3) bt Flavia Pennetta (ITA x7) 7-5, 6-1.

NADAL BATTLES BACK TO WIN

BASEL: Third-seeded Rafael Nadal battled back from a break down in the final set to defeat Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the Swiss Indoors quarter-finals.

But second seed Stan Wawrinka suffered his eighth first round loss at the tournament as the French Open champion slumped to a 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 defeat to Ivo Karlovic.

Nadal won the opening set against Dimitrov but dropped the second after leading 4-2.

When he dropped serve in the opening game of the third set on a double-fault, the situation looked grim for the Spaniard.

But the 14-time major winner broke back for 5-3 with a winning overhead, serving out the tight victory a game later after more than two hours on court.

“This was another very tough match, I had to fight,” said Nadal.

Nadal next faces either Marin Cilic or Teimuraz Gabashvili for a semi-final spot.

Karlovic, the 36-year-old Croatian, sent down 21 aces to take victory over Wawrinka after trailing a set and a break.

Elsewhere in the opening round, fourth seed Kevin Anderson advanced over Croatian teenager Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 while seventh seed and last weekend’s Moscow champion Cilic beat Basel native Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).

South Africa’s Anderson sent down 29 winners, improving his record in the best season of his career to 45-22.

Jack Sock won an American battle with Denis Kudla 6-4, 6-2 and next faces countryman John Isner, the sixth seed.

Results (x denotes seeding):

Rafa Nadal (Spain) bt Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; 8-David Goffin (Belgium) bt Adrian Mannarino (France) 6-4, 6-3; Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) bt 2-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4; Teymuraz Gabashvili (Russia) bt Leonardo Mayer (Argentina) 7-5, 4-6, 6-4; 4-Kevin Anderson (South Africa) bt Borna Coric (Croatia) 6-3, 6-2; 7-Marin Cilic (Croatia) bt Marco Chiudinelli (Switzerland) 6-3, 7-6(3); Jack Sock (US) bt Denis Kudla (US) 6-4, 6-2.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2015

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