Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska rallied from a set down on Sunday to beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4 and win the Korea Open.
Radwanska hit five aces and took advantage of 10 double-faults by the third-seeded Russian player to win her third title of the year and 13th overall.
“It was a very close match, tight sets, all of them,” Radwanska said. “But I was just a little bit better in the important moments today.”
Pavlyuchenkova rallied from 3-0 down in the first set and fought off four set points in her 5-6 service game before taking a one-set lead.
But the momentum shifted when Radwanska won the first three games of the second set. The Pole stayed on serve with Pavlyuchenkova through the first nine games of the third set before one last break to close out the match in 2 hours, 45 minutes.
“It’s tough losing this match after fighting so long and coming so close,” Pavlyuchenkova said. “It’s difficult and frustrating, but in tennis you can be up then down.”
Radwanska’s previous two titles this year came in the first two weeks of the year, in Auckland and Sydney. She is the fourth player to win three or more titles so far this season, after Serena Williams (9), Simona Halep (4) and Victoria Azarenka (3).
Venus in round two in tokyo
Venus Williams overpowered Mona Barthel of Germany 6-3, 6-1 on Sunday to advance to the second round of the Pan Pacific Open.
Venus needed just 1 hour, 4 minutes at Ariake Colosseum to dispatch Barthel and set up a second-round matchup with top-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who has a first-round bye.
Venus is 2-0 in head-to-head matches against Azarenka. They last met three years ago in the Dubai Duty Free final.
“I’ve watched many of her matches,” Williams said. “Especially the big matches against Serena. Watching them at the U.S. Open was awesome, and hopefully that will help me.”
Top-ranked Serena Williams, who won her 17th Grand Slam singles title with a three-set win over Azarenka at the U.S. Open, pulled out of the $2.3 million tournament, saying she needed time to recover from a busy summer playing schedule.
World no.3-ranked Maria Sharapova of Russia also pulled out of the Tokyo tournament because of a right-shoulder injury that kept her out of the U.S. Open.