Agnieszka Radwanska has taken a late wildcard into the Kremlin Cup in Moscow — which begins in less than three weeks — to increase her chances of qualifying for the 2015 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore by SC Global. Having made the semifinals last year after winning one of three matches, the Pole will be defending a total of 300 points in Singapore. If she is unable to qualify for the illustrious tournament, she would be in danger of finishing outside of the top 10 for the first time since 2010.
Radwanska’s Resurgence After A Tough Year
Agnieszka Radwanska hasn’t had the best year of her career in 2015, to say the very least. After winning the Hopman Cup with compatriot Jerzy Janowicz — which didn’t earn her any ranking points, Radwanska fell in the fourth round of the Australian Open to a resurgent Venus Williams. From that point on until the grass season began, the former world number two found it really hard to find any consistency, in terms of results. The furthest she had progressed in the first half of the year was at home in Katowice, where she lost in the semifinals to Camila Giorgi. After Radwanska lost in the opening round of the French Open to Annika Beck, she went back home to take a little break to reset, before travelling to Great Britain for the grass season. That break seemed to work as the former Wimbledon finalist seemed to look at home on the grass as she made the semifinal of Nottingham, the final of Eastbourne and the semifinal at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. Radwanska began to find her form again, and despite not having a fantastic Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series, she rebounded very nicely in Tokyo, winning her second title at the Ariake Colosseum. Her most recent result came in Wuhan where she lost to Venus Williams in the opening round. A jaded Radwanska had to play in Wuhan less than 36 hours after winning the tournament in Tokyo, and evidently, she looked fatigued against an in-form Williams.
Radwanska Returns to Moscow
Radwanska has only played the Kremlin Cup three times in her career, and currently has a 1-3 record in Moscow. The last time she played in the Russian capital, she was ranked eighth in the world — similarly to where she is in the singles rankings right now. In 2007, Radwanska made her debut and defeated Maria Kirilenko in three sets before losing to Vera Zvonareva. Two years later, she would return but would go on to lose in the opening round to Kirilenko. In her last trip to Moscow in 2011, Radwanska was coming off a superb Asian swing where she won Tokyo and Beijing in succession. Because of her success, she looked fatigued after all of the tennis she had played in Asia, and it showed in her three sets loss to Lucie Safarova that year.
Radwanska’s Chances of Qualifying a For Singapore
Now with Serena Williams out of the mix in Singapore, another player has a chance to qualify. Radwanska, who currently sits at number nine this week — now number eight because of Williams’ withdrawal — on the Road to Singapore leaderboard, will move down two places to number 11 because of Garbiñe Muguruza and Karolina Pliskova’s move up. If the standings were to stay like this for the rest of the year, Radwanska will be the second alternate at the WTA Finals this year. But since tennis is so unpredictable, and almost all of the players are so close in the standings, things could change quickly. In Radwanska’s case, she has a chance to accumulate enough points to qualify since she is playing Beijing, Tianjin, and Moscow back-to-back. If she can go deep in all three of those tournaments, she has a good chance of securing one of the eight coveted spots to the WTA Finals.