Nadia Petrova reached the Toray Pan Pacific Open final by overpowering Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-2. Petrova’s first serve percentage was just 36%, but she hit nine aces and won 17 of 20 points on her first serve. Moreover, she faced no break points until the last game of the match when she saved all the three. Stosur, who made a string of unforced errors, had to take a medical timeout due to an abdominal injury.
Defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska joined Petrova in the final with a rapid 6-1 6-1 win over Angelique Kerber. The third-seeded Radwanska was in absolute charge of the semifinal against one of the most solid players of the season, recording 20 winners to just four unforced errors. Kerber, fifth seed in Tokyo, is actually the most prolific WTA player this year when it comes to the number of match wins (58), but her 34 unforced errors made her disappear against Radwanska.
World No.3 Radwanska is the favorite for the $385,000 title, although she did lose to Petrova on the courts of Tokyo four years ago, 6-3 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Petrova, seed No.17, has never been to a bigger WTA final and has never beaten more than two Top 10 players in a tournament, and this time in Tokyo she’s already defeated No.7 Sara Errani and No.9 Sam Stosur. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)
