Tennis: Flavia Pennetta beats Agnieszka Radwanska to win Singapore exhibition tournament

By Tan Jon Han/Red Sports

Singapore Indoor Stadium, Sunday, December 18, 2011 — Flavia Pennetta of Italy beat Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-4, 7-5 to win the Singapore Women’s Exhibition Tournament over the weekend.

Earlier, six Singapore Tennis Association (STA) national junior elite youth players also had the opportunity to exchange ground strokes and more with Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) players Samantha Stosur of Australia, Peng Shuai of China, Radwanska and Pennetta of Italy.

Also in the mix were two other players ranked in the top 30 — Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia (#24) and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain (#27).

The youths exchanged ground strokes and teamed up against the WTA players in a quick two-on-two during their 45-minute session. Stosur, who enjoyed the quick workout, commented to the youths how there was something to learn from every game she plays.

“One moment you are playing with someone tall and the next moment you find yourself having to adapt to another who is very much shorter,” she said.

In the quarter-finals played on Friday, Pennetta took on Hantuchova, winning 7-6, 1-6, 6-1. The second quarter-finals saw Peng Shuai cruise to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Garrigues.

In the semi-finals, a poor-serving Peng Shuai gave her Polish opponent Radwanska an easy outing in the city, as she went down 3-6, 1-6.

It was a closer affair between Pennetta and Stosur in the second semis. The Australian Stosur has failed to beat Pennetta in their previous four meetings and that streak continued. After 2 hours and 28 minutes, Pennetta came out on top with a 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 victory.

The Australian was back on court on Sunday to take on China’s Peng Shuai in the battle for third placing. Stosur made up for her semi-finals defeat to prevail over a much-improved Peng Shuai in three sets, winning 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

For more photos, go to the next page.