Kuznetsova edges Radwanska in Singapore

Svetlana Kuznetsova dug deep to overcome Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5 1-6 7-5 in their WTA Finals round robin opener on Monday, the late-arriving Russian upsetting the defending champion in a thrilling encounter.

In the second White Group tie of the day, Czech Karolina Pliskova outlasted Spain’s French Open champion Garbine Muguruza 6-2 6-7(4) 7-5 in another marathon match that finished at 1:21 am (local time) in Singapore.

Kuznetsova only qualified for the elite eight-woman tournament on Saturday after winning the Kremlin Cup but she staved off exhaustion and a match point in the deciding set to emerge victorious over the world No.3.

“At some point I was ready to just let it go and lie on the court and let them take me out of here but I decided to hang in there,” the two-time grand slam champion said.

The world No.9 held a 12-4 record against Radwanska prior to the contest but after travelling from China to Russia to Singapore in consecutive weeks, few gave her a chance of recording an upset victory on Monday.

In the late encounter, Pliskova became the second player of the day to stave off a match point and win when the beaten US Open finalist rallied from 5-2 down in the deciding set to grind down Muguruza in a titanic tussle between big servers.

Pliskova raced through the first set and was a break up in the second before the Spaniard roared back and had two chances to hold serve to claim victory but the Czech rediscovered her form just in time to reel off five straight games.