Kuznetsova cuts Radwanska down to size

SINGAPORE — Odd things have happened on a tennis court — line judges have been kicked, rackets have been smashed, and tennis starlet Eugenie Bouchard was once asked to give a twirl at the Australian Open.

But it is not often that one gets to watch a player getting a haircut on court — which is what fans at the indoor stadium were treated to last night at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore when Svetlana Kuznetsova put a blade through her tresses.

Trailing 1-2 against defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska in the second set yesterday, the Russian world No 9 bizarrely took a pair of scissors to her blonde braid, cutting off some of her hair before heading back onto court to face her rival.

And Kuznetsova’s odd tactic appeared to work wonders for the Russian — she won the next game and the match — as she emerged victorious after a marathon 2hr 48min battle to claim her first win (7-5, 1-6, 7-5) here in Singapore.

Boasting the superior head to head record against Radwanska — two-time Grand Slam winner Kuznetsova had won 12 out of their 16 encounters since 2007 — the veteran player fired the first salvo early in the match, powering past the Pole to claim the win 7-5 in the first set.

Ahead of this week’s WTA Finals, Kuznetsova found herself in a thrilling battle for the final and eighth spot at the season finale, with the 31-year-old ousting her closest contender, Briton Johanna Konta, a day before the opening day with her victory at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Saturday.

Some 48 hours later, she was back on the tennis court at the WTA Finals to take on her opponents in the Red Group. But fatigue and jet lag seemed to have caught up with the Russian in the second set, as she struggled against the crafty Radwanska — nicknamed “La Profesora” (the teacher) for her tricky shots and angles — as the world No 3 clawed back to break her rival’s serve thrice in the second set to level the score at 1-1.

With the opening match win at stake, it was Radwanska who dealt the first psychological blow in the decider, breaking her opponent early to win the first game. But Kuznetsova, who sports a tiger tattoo on her stomach and says she wants to “fight like a tiger”, clawed back with a vengeance to level the score at 4-4.

The tense battle for dominance see-sawed to the delight of some 4,000 fans in the stadium, but it was Radwanska who was handed a lesson by the Russian in the end, as Kuznetsova hung on to clinch the win 7-5 over the defending champion.

Pumping her chest after her victory last night, Kuznetsova is ready to make her first appearance at the WTA Finals in six years count.

“Yes (this was emotional), at some point I was ready to go, lay on the court and have them take me out of here, but I just hung on,” she said after the match yesterday.

“I just played every point, just trying to hang in there. It’s my first time playing in Singapore and I thank you for the support from the crowd.”

TODAY’S SCHEDULE (RED GROUP):

7.30pm – Angelique Kerber (Ger) v Simona Halep (Rou)

Followed by Madison Keys (USA) v Dominika Cibulkova (Svk)