Radwanska Books Beijing Final Against Konta

Posted: Jan 01, 1970

BEIJING China – No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska returned to the final of the China Open for the third time in her career after edging past Elina Svitolina in straight sets.

Watch live action from Beijing on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Svitolina took advantage of Radwanska’s sluggish start to push her early in the first set, but the Pole survived to advance 7-6(3), 6-3 in an hour and forty minutes.

“Well, definitely a bit too slow start for me,” Radwanska assessed. “Suddenly it was 3-5. As we know, this is a score you can definitely come back. Serve was not really the key of that match, either my serve or her.”

“I was just very glad I could come back in that first set. I think it was very important. I just played a great tiebreaker, so that helped me a lot for sure in that match.”

Both Svitolina and Radwanska advanced to their semifinal match without dropping a set in Beijing, but after trading breaks to start, it was the Ukrainian who struck first. She stepped into a Radwanska lob and hammered it cross court, earning a break in fifth game which she built up into a 5-3 lead.

Radwanska was left to play catch-up, using every trick in her arsenal to stay within touching distance before finally breaking back and leveling the match. The Pole dominated in the tiebreaker, flying out to a 5-0 lead before eventually claiming the set.

She shot to a double break lead in the final set, and saved a pair of break points to keep her nose ahead. She broke once again in the final game of the match to claim another straight sets victory in Beijing.

Radwanska books a clash against Top 10 debutante Johanna Konta for a shot at her second China Open title.

“Just very, very happy to be in the third final here in Beijing,” Radwanska said. “Well, is a great event. As we know, everybody is playing here. It’s always good to be in the final that all the top players were here.”