In her first WTA Finals appearance, US Open Champion Flavia Pennetta remains positive despite her loss to Simona Halep. The Italian plans to appreciate her experience in Singapore. She qualified for the tournament just last week. In Pennetta’s post match interview she said, “The Road to Singapore was pretty hard in the last month, but I’m really enjoy(ing) to play this event and enjoy(ing) to be here. Of course I would love to play a little bit better, but I still have my chance. I still have two match(es) I have to play, so we will see what happen(s).” After the US Open, Pennetta went out in the in the third round of the China Open after three 3-set matches. As the number one seed in Tianjin, she was shocked in the first round by Lyudmyla Kichenok, ranked 414 at the time. Pennetta retired in the third round of the Kremlin Cup last week.
Pennetta noted that Halep was playing really well in the match, was very consistent, and was serving better than she did the last time they faced each other. The Italian said, “I mean, she always h(as) a good start here. Last year she beat Serena 6-0, 6-2 in the first match.” Pennetta added that perhaps her energy level was low, “I didn’t push a lot like always…was waiting too much.” She felt her game improved in the second set when she “was trying to find something more, to be more aggressive, and I was close(r) and I ha(d) my chance.”
When asked about the venue, Pennetta commented, “The atmosphere is perfect; the court, it’s really nice; the crowd, it’s amazing here.”
With regard to her upcoming matches with Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska, Pennetta hopes “to recover a little bit, to be more aggressive.”
