TENNIS WTA FINALS – Serena Williams and Simona Halep will play in the final of the 2014 WTA Finals. The American defeated Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 and the Romanian beat Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-2
The final of the WTA Finals in Singapore will be between World Number 1 Serena Williams and World Number 4 Simona Halep in a repeat of the group stage match that the Romanian won 6-0, 6-2. In the first semifinal of the day Serena Williams defeated Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-3, 7-6. Simona Halep won the second semifinal against Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-2.
Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki treated the fans in the Singapore Indoor Stadium to a long and exciting match. The World number 1 came back from a set down to win the final set tie-break 8-6 to beat her friend Wozniacki to reach her seventh WTA Finals final. The Dane played an excellent match, but she fell short in the final moments of the match when she served for a place in the final ahead 5-4 in the third set and again when she was 4-1 in front in the tie-break and serve.
At the beginning of the match Serena looked slow and tight whilst Caroline was lively and extremely rapid in chasing down every shot by the american. As a result Wozniacki won the first set 6-2 in just 28 minutes dropping just 3 points on serve. In the second set Serena managed to improve her serve, but the match at this point was finely balanced until the fifth game when Williams finally broke the Dane’s serve which allowed her to win the second set 6-3. In the final set the quality of tennis improved on both sides with more intense rallies. Both players held serve until the ninth game when the American lost her serve. Serena recovered from 0-30 to 30 all, but then Wozniacki received a gift from the net giving her a break point. The Dane failed to convert it, but after an excellent return she converted her second break opportunity of the set chasing down a poor drop shot by Serena.
At this stage Wozniacki was in control of the match serving ahead 5-4, but Williams managed to summon all her energy and determination playing a perfect return game to equal the score at 5 all. Wozniacki had another break opportunity in the eleventh game but her backhand flew past the base line. Serena had a first match point in the twelfth game which Wozniacki cancelled at the end of a tough rally with an excellent stop volley followed by another volley in open court.
In the tie-break Wozniacki went ahead 4-1 with Serena looking exhausted and close to capitulating, but the World Number one wasn’t going to accept defeat and she recovered winning 5 consecutive points to earn another two match points at 6-4. Wozniacki still had the energy to save the match points, but she could do nothing to prevent another match when the american placed her 12th ace. The fourth match point proved to be too much for the Dane, she sent a forehand wide allowing Serena to celebrate.
In her post match interview Serena Williams said, “I just kept thinking, if I lose I get to go home and if I win I get to stay in front of this amazing crowd. After I lost the first set I heard so many people behind me and it’s the only reason I was able to pull through. Caroline played a great match, it was really difficult today and I felt really bad because she’s so amazing and so nice and in this tournament she really deserved to win. So just congrats to her and thank you for playing so well and making it such a great match.”
The second semifinal was certainly less exciting than the first as Simona Halep controlled the match against Agnieszka Radwanska from start to finish. It was another dominant display by the Romanian who swept aside the Pole with a double 6-2 in just 1 hour and 8 minutes of play. Tomorrow in the final she will play against Serena Williams in a replay of the group stage match that she won dropping just two games.
In her post-match interview Halep said, “I’m very excited to be in the finals. I didn’t expect this result here and I’ve had to work very hard to play my best tennis here this week. Agnieszka’s also a great player and I want to congratulate her on reaching the semifinals. I also want to thank everyone that came to support us. I knew that I’d have to run a lot and that she’s also running very well. I just wanted to play very fast and finish the points very quick and take the ball inside the baseline. My style was to be aggressive.”
She also spoke about her upcoming final against Serena Williams, “It’s a new day a new match so who knows what’s going to happen there. I know she’ll be more focused and I just want to enjoy the final.”
