SINGAPORE: Maria Sharapova’s bid to end the year ranked number one was left hanging by a thread after she suffered a second straight defeat at the WTA Finals yesterday.
The only woman capable of leapfrogging Serena Williams for the top spot, Maria was beaten 6-3, 6-2 by Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova at Singapore’s Indoor Stadium.
Maria still has a slim mathematical chance of finishing number one but has to win the title and rely on other results going her way after she also lost her opening match to Caroline Wozniacki.
“It’s easy to sit here and say, yeah, I’m tired. I lost two matches,” said Maria.
“But that’s not the way I feel or the way that I choose to speak. I still have a match ahead of me, and I will do my best to finish it on a good note.
“That’s the only thing I can ask of myself.”
Caroline edged closer to booking her place in the semi-finals with an impressive 7-5, 6-3 win over Agnieszka Radwanska.
Showing no signs of fatigue after her exhausting three-set win over Maria two days earlier, Caroline rebounded from a slow start to overrun Agnieszka with an ominous display.
Caroline was down an early service break in the opening set but quickly got back on terms and proved too strong for Agnieszka, running the Pole ragged on Singapore’s purple hardcourts.
“I just kept fighting for every point. There was some ridiculous shot making there at times,” said Caroline. “I just had to keep going and keep trying to stay close to the baseline really.
“I’ve been pleased with the way I’ve been running a lot of balls down, been serving well, just taking advantage of the important points.”
Caroline plays her final group match against Petra today.
The Czech lost her opening match to Agnieszka but stayed in the hunt with a much better performance against Maria.
“I was really disappointing when I lost against Aga (Radwanska). It was a match probably I really didn’t know what I’m doing on. I was so tired and sick of the tennis for a moment,” Petra said.
“So I didn’t practise today at all and I just really relaxed and cleaned my mind a little bit. I knew that I have a game to beat Maria.
“Everything what I did today was really good, and I’m glad that I beat her and I have still a chance to go to semi-final.
Meanwhile, the reigning US Open champion Serena thrashed Eugenie Bouchard 6-1, 6-1 late Wednesday night to finish the round-robin phase with a 2-1 win-loss record after beating Ana Ivanovic in her opening match then losing to Simona Halep.
The only way she can miss out on the semis is if Ana beats Simona in straight sets today.
“Well, my fate really rests on me,” said Serena.
“So whatever happens, happens at this time. I did the best that I could do this week. I should have thought about that sooner.” Reuters