PAN PACIFIC OPEN CHAMP. Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland returns to Vera Zvonareva of Russia on her way to winning their final match at the Japan Pan Pacific Open women's tennis tournament in Tokyo Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011. AP
TOKYO – Agnieszka Radwanska kept up her immaculate winning record in finals this season by beating Vera Zvonareva of Russia to take the WTA Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Pole, who claimed the title at Carlsbad in her first final of the season in August, when she also beat Zvonareva, repeated her excellent performance with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over the world number four.
“I’m really happy, because I really had tough matches here, it’s very tough to play every day, I had very long matches, so I’m really happy,” said Radwanska.
“To play against those like Vera, you just have to play your 100 percent and your best tennis. I was always trying my best from the first point and actually I was very focused till the end. That’s why I took the two sets.
“I was just feeling very good today and I’m happy about my performance, for sure,” she added.
Radwanska shrugged off a 0-2 start, taking five games in a row as the Russian struggled to put away her first serves, hitting four double faults – one on a break point.
Radwanska missed one set point in the eighth game and two more in the ninth, but cashed in on a fourth as the Russian hit a lob long.
The Pole jumped ahead 2-0 and then 4-1 in the second set and, although she dropped her serve in the sixth, she took the following two games, the match ending with the Russian hitting a forehand wide.
It was Radwanska’s third straight win against Zvonareva after losing their first two meetings.
It was also Radwanska’s sixth career title, following victories at Pattaya City, Istanbul and Eastbourne in 2008 and Stockholm in 2007, as well as at Carlsbad.
The win brought Radwanska a winner’s cheque for $360,000 and she will move up to 12th in the world when the new rankings are announced next Monday.