Battling Svetlana Kuznetsova triumphs

Svetlana Kuznetsova hits a forehand return to Agnieszka Radwanska in their match at the WTA Finals tennis tournament in Singapore on Monday. (Photo: AFP )

Svetlana Kuznetsova hacked off her own hair with a pair of scissors and burst into tears before saving a match point and eventually beating the defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 at the WTA Finals on Monday.

Despite appearing on the verge of exhaustion and close to breaking down, Kuznetsova somehow summoned up the energy to win her opening round-robin match in dramatic fashion, less than 48 hours after she qualified for the prestigious end-of-season championship.

Spectators at Singapore’s Indoor Stadium looked on in stunned disbelief when the Russian gave herself an impromptu haircut early in the deciding third set, chopping off the end of her ponytail and throwing the loose strands onto her seat.

At the next change of ends, Kuznetsova then began to cry, sobbing into her towel before she regained her composure, wiped the tears from her cheeks and went back on the court to finish a contest which lasted almost three hours.

Her efforts looked to have been in vain when she dropped her serve to fall 5-4 behind and Radwanska got to match point but the Pole squandered her lone opportunity and Kuznetsova reeled off the last three games to register one of the most stunning wins of her career. “At some point I was just ready to lie on the court and let them take me out of here. But I kept at it,” Kuznetsova said in a courtside interview.

Del Potro back among silverware Stockholm: Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro clinched his first ATP title in almost three years with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over American Jack Sock in Sunday’s final in Stockholm. The Argentine needed just over an hour and a quarter to beat sixth-seeded Sock.

The 28-year-old, runner-up to Murray in the Olympic final in Rio, last played a tour final in Sydney in January 2014, when he beat home favourite Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-1.

Resolute Busta wins Kremlin Cup Moscow: Sixth-seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta battled back from a set down to defeat unseeded Fabio Fognini and win the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Sunday. Busta, ranked 36th in the world, won 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 54 minutes to record his second triumph over the 29-year-old Italian in as many meetings and claim his second ATP title.

“The title that I won first (at Winston-Salem) is very special for me.”