Agnieszka Radwanska has ended her four-year WTA Premier Mandatory title drought after defeating Great Britain’s Johanna Konta 6-4, 6-2, in the final of the China Open.
The Beijing encounter between the two was a tale of the veteran against the newcomer. This year marked Radwanska’s ninth appeared in Beijing and her fifth appearance in a premier mandatory final. On the other hand, this week is Konta’s debut in the tournament as she progressed to the biggest final of her career.
Targeting her first Beijing title since 2011, Radwanska got off to an almost perfect start as she dictated a somewhat lacklustre Konta around the court to storm to a 5-2 lead. The tentative play of the Brit enabled Radwanska to play the match on her own terms. Konta did have a chance to level the set at 5-5 after retrieving one of the breaks and battling to 40-30 against her opponent’s serve at 4-5. It was an almost perfect rally constructed by the 25-year-old, but a seemingly easy volley was smashed into the net to vanish her opportunity. The costly error proved fatal for Konta’s hopes as Radwanska closed the set out, thanks to another error from her opponent.
First set 👉 @ARadwanska!
Serves out a close opening set vs Konta 6-4! #ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/jW0Bx0CWmf
— WTA (@WTA) 9 October 2016
Leading by a set, Radwanska could see the title within her sights. Prior to the final, the world No.3 has won 21 out of her last 23 matches when taking the first set. No.22 was only a matter of time as she wore her opponent down. Racing to a trio of break points in the third game of the second set, Radwanska failed to convert thanks to some sublime serving from Konta. Nevertheless, it was still not enough to tame the match favourite and her brick wall defence. Breaking with the help of a deep return, the third seed extended her lead to a set and 4-1 with the help of another costly Konta error.
.@ARadwanska jumps out to a 4-1 lead in the second set vs Konta! #ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/YS09oyyLGf
— WTA (@WTA) 9 October 2016
Strolling to her third title of 2016, Radwanska had to cope with an unexpected issue – the stadium lighting. Despite the brief delay by the flickering lights, it did little to change the match outcome. A clever overhead lob elevated the 27-year-old to her first match point. The triumph was then sealed with her first ace of the match.
“It’s a very special moment. Third final, second title.” Said Radwanska during her trophy ceremony.
“Every title means a lot, but especially here (Beijing) when you play in one of the biggest tournaments of the year and you play top players from the first round. I’ve been playing my best tennis this week, so I’m just very glad to win this trophy again.”
Regardless of producing 34 unforced errors against Radwanska, Konta leaves Beijing with a new milestone in her career. Reaching the final, she has become the first British woman since 1984 to break the top 10 and currently lies in eighth place in the race to the WTA finals in Singapore.
“I’m very pleased with my progress over the last few years.” Said Konta. “Hopefully there are still many more places to climb. As of now I’m really enjoying my journey, I’m really enjoying working hard and working towards matches like these. Hopefully I will have many more in the future.”
The title in Beijing has made Radwanska only the fourth player in history to win three or more Premier Mandatory titles after Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova.
