World number one Serena Williams needed almost two hours to get past Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland to secure a place at the Rogers Cup 2013 final where she will face Romania’s Sorana Cirstea for the title.
“I hadn’t played her in a little while and kind of forgot how flat she hits and how low she hits,” Williams said after her 7-6, 6-4 win over the world number four. “But it was okay. Once I accepted that the balls were going to be flat, then it was a little better. It was definitely one of our tougher matches – we actually have a lot of good matches.”
The two-time Canadian Open champion has won all of their five previous meetings with their closest match coming from last year’s Wimbledon final where Williams edged Radwanska in a three-set thriller.
“This was definitely a much better match than, for example, in Miami,” Radwanska said. “It was really close and I had my chances but wasn’t really taking them. She definitely played well, especially in the tie-break. And she played much better in the end of the second set, playing aggressive and deep.
“That’s what makes her No.1 in the world, playing unbelievable in the very important moments, and just hitting some very powerful shots. I couldn’t really do anything about that against her tonight.”
The American is gunning for her 54th WTA career title. She has defeated Cirstea in their past two meetings in straight sets.
“Sorana’s a great player,” Williams said. “She plays really tough. Gosh, she hits really hard. She has a really big serve. She moves well. She’s definitely not an easy player to play, but she’s – wow.
“Last few months she has been really consistent. She’s just a player who has finally found herself, and she’s playing better and better and getting more confident. It’s going to be a really tough match.”
