Sometimes all it takes between a win and a loss is one really good pep talk. Lucky for Flavia Pennetta, her Spanish coach Salvador Navarro had one of those on hand as he helped her pull off a straight sets victory over Agnieszka Radwanska in the WTA Finals on Tuesday.
The US Open champion denied Radwanska the chance to register a 500th career match win by defeating her 7-6 (5), 6-4 in a one-hour 39-minute contest on the second day of Red Group round robin action.
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Pennetta had lost their only previous meeting in 2015, 6-1, 6-1 in Doha in February but Tuesday’s affair was a complete reversal.
Radwanska twice went up a break in the opening set and served for it at 5-4 but Pennetta broke back both times. At the changeover down 4-5, Pennetta frantically called for Navarro for an on-court coaching visit after which the Italian immediately broke serve to draw level at 5-5.
“He told me to be more aggressive, to be more forceful with my backhand than my forehand because I was not that sure all the time when I was pushing with the backhand and make some mistakes,” Pennetta revealed after the match. “I did it,” she added laughing. “And it was working.”
Pennetta started to become more ruthless with her backhand – the down the line shot particularly doing lots of damage.
Radwanska meanwhile was unravelling, vulnerable as ever on her second serve and suffering up front at the net.
The No7 seed took the opening set tiebreak and kept her chances of advancing to the semi-finals alive.
Three games into the second set, Pennetta had a medical timeout for a blister on her right foot. The WTA Finals debutante began perfecting her down the line backhand passes and winners and got the break in the seventh game to go 4-3 up.
Radwanska saved three match points to hold for 4-5 but Pennetta closed out the clash with an ace, a smash and fittingly two backhand down the line winners.