Radwanska wins Rogers Cup 2014 title, beats Venus Williams

Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland won the Premier 5-level Rogers Cup title on Sunday with a straight sets victory over Venus Williams 6-4, 6-2. Williams grabbed headlines the day before after defeating younger sister, world number one Serena Williams, in a three-set thriller.

Venus Williams had shown that she still has what it takes to become a champion and she had outlasted higher ranked opponents along the way – including sixth seed Angelique Kerber, 14th seed Carla Suarez Navarro and of course her sister Serena, her first victry against the top-ranked player in more than five years.

Radwanska silently made her way to the final by defeating quality players as well such as Sabine Lisicki, Victoria Azarenka and Ekaterina Makarova. She was deemed to be the underdog in the final with a 3-5 head to head series record over Williams. However, in the end it was the Polish world number five who prevailed as she came up with better numbers (12 winners to 8 unforced errors) versus Williams (25 winners to 41 unforced errors)

“First off I have to say wow, this is the first time I’ve ever won a match in Canada since I turned professional 20 years ago – I never imagined I would get to the finals of this tournament,” Williams said.

“And I have to congratulate Agnieszka on a wonderful tournament and a wonderful final,” she added. “I can’t wait until we play again – I’m sure that will be many, many times in the future.”

A return in the tournament in 2016 might be in the cards for Williams as she hinted this to the adoring crowd.

“I’ll see you soon – I guess in a couple of years, right?”

Radwanska shared her moment after the match.

“Venus, I just want to say great match – not just today, but it was a whole week of great tennis,” she said. “And I had a really amazing week this week too. I’ve been playing here for years, a couple of times I made the semifinals, and I kept trying and trying, and now I’ve finally done it.

“I’ve always liked Canada, but now I think I just love Canada.”

Radwanska now has a stronger chance to qualify for the WTA Finals in Singapore with this victory. She now jumps to number three in the Road to Singapore leaderboard standings.

In doubles, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci continued their strong run of the season with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Cara Black and Sania Mirza.