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Radwanska crushes Pliskova, Muguruza wins over Kuznetsova in WTA Finals

Xinhua, October 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

The White Group played its last round robin matches on Friday when WTA Finals entered the sixth day with defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska crushing Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-3 to enter the semifinals and Garbine Muguruza winning over Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 in another match.

In the first set, Radwanska pulled it back from 2-4 down and broke Pliskova to secure the victory. While in the second set, Pliskova took the lead 3-2 at the first stage. However, the Czech failed to hold on and double-faulted at 30-all before giving up the game with a ball into the net. Again, Radwanska broke and finally won 6-3, advancing to the semifinals.

"What I could do is focusing on the break points, and that helps today. It's a great match, I'm just very happy that I could do my very best at the important moments," said Radwanska on court.

In the match between Kuznetsova and Muguruza, the Russian took the best start to any of her matches this week, winning the first set 6-3. However, Kuznetsova didn't manage to secure as Muguruza fought harder in the second and final sets. Finally, Muguruza finished her season on a winning note after losing the first two matches here.

Muguruza said to the press that going into this match was extremely hard for her.

"Minutes before the match I was like, this is going to be difficult for me. At the end my desire of wanting to be here and competing against the best, was a challenge for me today to see how I was going to react. I'm very happy about the way I played today, the way I handled the match," said the Spaniard.

Despite her defeat, the 31-year-old Russian still won the White Group after round robin wins over Radwanska and Pliskova, advancing to face Dominika Cibulkova in Saturday's semi-finals.

As for doubles matches, Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza defeated Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching, 7-6(10), 7-5, to reach the semifinals. Endit