Radwanska rallies to capture Seoul crown
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, September 23, 2013
Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska rallied from a set down yesterday to beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4 and win the Korea Open in Seoul.
Radwanska hit five aces and took advantage of 10 double-faults by the third-seeded Russian player to win her third title of the year and 13th overall.
"It was a very close match, tight sets, all of them," Radwanska said. "But I was just a little bit better in the important moments today."
Pavlyuchenkova rallied from 0-3 down in the first set and fought off four set points on her 5-6 service game before taking a one-set lead.
But the momentum shifted when Radwanska won the first three games of the second set. The Pole stayed on serve with Pavlyuchenkova through the first nine games of the third set before one last break to close out the match in 2 hours, 45 minutes.
"It's tough losing this match after fighting so long and coming so close," Pavlyuchenkova, who had little time to recover from her gruelling semifinal with Italy's Francesca Schiavone on Saturday, said. "It's difficult and frustrating, but in tennis you can be up then down."
Radwanska's previous two titles this year came in the first two weeks of the year, in Auckland, New Zealand; and Sydney, Australia. She is the fourth player to win three or more titles so far this season, after top-ranked American Serena Williams (9), Romania's Simona Halep (4) and Victoria Azarenka (3) of Belarus.
Radwanska, No. 4 in the world rankings, improved to 3-1 in head-to-head matches against Pavlyuchenkova, who is ranked 32nd.
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