Tennis: Petrova beats Radwanska to win Pan Pacific title
BY Staff and Wire Reports
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Russia's Nadia Petrova beat defending champion Agnieska Radwanska 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 on Saturday to win the Pan Pacific Open.
Radwanska double faulted twice in the eighth game of the last set when Petrova broke her to go ahead 5-3 before winning the match in the next game with a smash to the corner.
Petrova won her 12th career title and for the first time in her career beat three top-10 players in the same week: No. 7 Sara Errani, No. 9 Samantha Stosur and No. 3 Radwanska.
The 17th-seeded Russian had a sore back at the start of the tournament but got stronger and stronger with each win.
"To be honest with you, I don't know where I found the strength and the willpower to fight in the third set," Petrova said. "This is the biggest tournament I've ever won. This is a great accomplishment."
Radwanska was bidding to become the first player here to win back-to-back titles since Lindsay Davenport in 2003-04.
