by Erik Gudris
Not too many people at the start of this week’s
Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad,
California expected much from
Svetlana Kuznetsova who came in as an unseeded player. But as she navigated her
way past several top 20 players on her way to the finals, the feeling was the
title was Kuznetsova’s to win so long as she held her nerve and kept finding
the range on her fearsome forehand. Today in the finals against Agnieszka
Radwanska, it indeed was all up to the Russian as she dictated play for most of
the match. But as expected, when it came down to closing out the match,
Kuznetsova had to battle her nerves just when it seemed victory was inevitable.
In the first set, Kuznetsova continued her hard-hitting form and found
opportunities early into the Radwanska service games as the Russian broke twice
to go up 4-1 early. Kuznetsova served for the set at 5-2 but had a letdown and
gave her service game away at love to let Radwanska back into the set before
Kuznetsova finally closed out the set 6-4 by hitting a forehand winner behind
Radwanska. Kuznetsova continued her steady play in the second set and despite Radwanska’s
best efforts to stay in the rallies, Kuznetsova used her power game at will
while Radwanska’s forays into net were often met with a quick passing shot from
the Russian. Kuznetsova broke again and served for the match at 5-4.
And then that’s when the nerves set in. Kuznetsova’s shots started finding the
net and she soon gave the break back to level things at 5-5. Both players then
held to enter the tiebreak and it was there that Kuznetsova jumped out to 4-0
lead and seemed poised to close it out. Eventually she had 6-3, but Kuznetsova
double faulted then hit two more shaky groundstrokes to give Radwanska a second
chance at 6-6. Radwanska had her own nervy serves as well but finally managed
to put one in that led to Radwanska hitting a short forehand that Kuznetsova
couldn’t chase down giving Radwanska the set.
With many in the crowd rooting for Radwanska and yelling out their support in
Polish, it seemed like the momentum was with the 21-year-old from Krakow. After she went up an early break at 2-1 in the
third set, all seemed lost for Kuznetsova. But it was the Russian who looked calmer
and focused on court as she started stepping in to attack Radwanska’s second
serve and firing off winners at will. Kuznetsova broke back and from there it
was like the second set never happened. Up 5-3, Kuznetsova stepped up to the
line again to serve it out and this time did so with ease as she hit a forehand
winner in the deuce court to take the match 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-3.
Ecstatic with winning her first final of the year, the always candid Kuznetsova
admitted she choked away the second set. “I don’t know why it happened but
here I couldn’t make the ball. I’m happy today that I could play that bad at
the end of the second set and I could start all over in the third set.”
She then added with a laugh, “It’s funny for me now after I win the match
but if I lost that third set I would be like, “Oh my God. Should I finish
playing tennis? It was a disaster. But I will do everything now so it will not
happen again.”
Radwanska herself said Kuznetsova was the better player today but that she had
her own chances to take the match but didn’t. “She (Kuznetsova) played
better and was more consistent and still fighting to the end. I had break
points but I didn’t use them.”
Erik Gudris is the editor of Adjusting the Net and was covering the Mercury Insurance Open for Global Village Tennis News as media. Follow him on twitter @AdjustingTheNet .
Double the twitter pleasure later on this week as we’ll have reporters from both the Western &
Southern Financial Group Women’s Open in Cincinnati and the Rogers Cup In Toronto.