Battle of best friends

SINGAPORE — They call it Frantic Friday and yesterday at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore, a frenetic final day of round-robin action at the Singapore Indoor Stadium saw six players in action, with five battling to stay alive in the US$6.5 million (S$8.3 million) season-ending tournament.

With only Simona Halep through to the top four with two wins in the Red group, the three singles matches — Maria Sharapova vs Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova vs Caroline Wozniacki, and Halep vs Ana Ivanovic — served up a treat for the spectators.

After losses to Wozniacki and Kvitova, world No 2 Sharapova needed a straight-sets victory over Radwanska — and for Kvitova to beat Wozniacki by a similar margin — to keep her title hopes alive.

After winning the first set 7-5, crowd favourite Sharapova stormed to a 5-1 lead in the second set and looked set to survive through to the weekend. However, Radwanska had clearly missed the memo, clawing back to level the score at 6-6, before winning the tie-break 7-4 to end Sharapova’s campaign.

Despite her elimination, Sharapova eventually won the marathon 3hr 9 min match 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2 for her only victory at these WTA Finals.

While Wozniacki may have said earlier in the week that she would not recommend training for a marathon to any player, her New York Marathon date on Nov 2 has certainly worked wonders for the 24-year-old Dane.

The world No 8 — who only qualified for the WTA Finals after Li Na’s retirement last month — powered past third-ranked Kvitova 6-2, 6-3 for a third win over a higher-ranked player, setting up a semi-final date today with good friend and world No 1 Serena Williams, as her victory brought Pole Radwanska into the final four.

A clearly delighted Wozniacki even joked about Radwanska having to bring her shopping to thank her.

“Yeah, she told me that too (about bringing me shopping with her credit card),” said Wozkiacki. “I hope she’s going to keep her promise. She owes me a handbag.”

The odds look stacked against Wozniacki making the final — she has beaten defending champion Williams only once in 10 encounters, a 6-4, 6-4 win at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami in 2012 — and she added: “My match-up against her so far hasn’t been great. But it’s a new tournament, it’s a new week and I’ve been playing really well. I believe that if I play like I did today, it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side. I can win. It’s been a great week.”

As the sky above the S$1.33 billion Sports Hub lit up in pretty sunset hues of red and yellow yesterday evening, the tennis entertainment did not let up. Ivanovic needed a straight sets win over Halep and the duo revved up the crowd with a thrilling see-saw battle.

WTA Finals debutant Halep was tipped for victory after walloping top seeded Williams on Wednesday, but a rejuvenated Ivanovic hung tough to take the first set to a tie-break, before clinching victory 9-7.

There were also plenty of smiles on court, as a bemused Ivanovic plonked herself onto a courtside bench after failing to return a cleverly-angled drop shot from Halep in the second set, bringing a roar of laughter from the appreciative crowd. Losing the second set 6-3 eliminated Ivanovic, but the Serb still fought on to win the match 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-3.

Halep will face Radwanska in today’s semi-finals, and the feisty Romanian will be looking to avenge her 2-0 loss to Radwanska at Indian Wells this year. Halep, 23, has beaten the Polish player twice in six meetings, though form is on her side this tournament.

“It will be a tough match, I know her very well and we played twice this year and were 1-1 each and we will see how the third match goes,” said Halep. “She runs a lot on court and I have to be very aggressive, she is an intelligent player who knows how to open angles on the court.

“I am smiling because I am in the semi-final in my first time in the WTA Finals and I feel happy. I played well here, beat the No 1 in the world, and I will never forget this week.”

Fans could be in for fireworks should Halep and Williams win through to tomorrow’s final, for surely Williams will not be caught cold for a second time this week.

Order of play

12pm

Alla Kudryavtseva (Rus)/Anastasia Rodionova (Aus) vs 2 Hsieh Su-wei (Tpe)/Peng Shuai (Chn)

2.30pm

1 Serena Williams (Usa) vs 8 Caroline Wozniacki (Den)

6pm

6 Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) vs 4 Simona Halep (Rou)

followed by

Kveta Peschke (Cze)/Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) vs 3 Cara Black (Zim)/Sania Mirza (Ind)