San Diego: Kuznetsova Takes Title
Tough match on Sunday’s San Diego final between Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova amd Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska. After a 6-4 first set win from the Russian, things appeared to go clear the same way, but it was also Radwanska who had something to say before struggling to take the second set. The Poland player finally succeeded to send the second set, which went head to head between the two, into the tie break to win it after Kuznetsova lost four match points the same set, two of them double-faulted. However, the last set was dominated by the Russian who was helped by the break point to win the match and the trophy. It was 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 final scored as Kuznetsova could barely feel her own feet.
“I just shook. The trophy was very important to me. I was very embarrassed and I just got it back together and dictated. My knees were shaking and I couldn’t push on my serve and now I know why people double fault on match points. It was very hard to close and I choked for first time in my life,” the Russian said. She also admitted she need to double-improve her playing in the last set, taking account he provided a very poor performance into the second, losing four match points and the set, too: “To play that bad at end of the second set and then to let her come back and see me choke, I had to be twice as strong in the third set and I was. It’s pretty funny now that I won the match, but if I lost I might be thinking: ‘Should I finish playing tennis?’ I doubt it will happen again.”
It was her first title of the season as the Russian defeated on her way to the final Italian Flavia Pennetta in two straight sets, but also the US teenager Coco Vandeweghe, who sent home one of the main San Diego favorites, Russian Vera Zvonareva, former Wimbledon runner-up, in the quarter finals. This title will surely make Kuznetsova confident about the grand slam is about to begin, namely the US Open that will take place between August the 30th and September the 12th.
