WTA Championships in Istanbul Day 3, Match 3: Vera Zvonareva Versus Agnieszka Radwanska

To be completely honest, I was pretty disinterested with the WTA Championships in Istanbul at the start of this week.

With the ups and downs - mostly downs - on the women's tour through most of 2011, there wasn't much in the way of star power or intrigue coming into this event. No Kim... No Serena... a number one with no slams still, a number two with no serve, and three first-time slam winners who all struggled with their games after their wins.

But every now and then, a special match or match-up of two particular players comes along that makes it all worthwhile AND proves me wrong. It makes all of that disinterest and lack of intrigue go away (at least temporarily), and leaves you on the edge of your seat for every shot. Such was the case with the final match of day 3 between the Red Group's Vera Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska!

Man oh man what a match!!! Vera burned through that first set in much the same way she did against Caroline yesterday, with strong serving (63% first serves) and aggressive but accurate groundstrokes. She won 74% of her service points, and 62% of her return points. There really wasn't much Agnieszka could do. Vera took the set 6-1.

After dropping that first set, Aga pulled it together and lifted her game as Vera's level began to drop. Whereas Vera had started the match serving strongly, her first serve percentage sank into the forties. Aga raised her game, serving more effectively and at higher percentages. She returned better, and did a better job of saving break points against her serve. She won the second set 6-2 to take it to a third set. And that's when the shot-making really began between these two.

Both women played well for the most part, with steady and deep shot-making through most of the third set. Though neither could seemingly buy a first serve (fatigue or nerves), they both managed to stay "on serve" through 3-4. That's when Agnieszka got broken to go down 3-5. Finally, Vera had the match on her racquet. You could sense that she was going close the match out and book her spot in the semifinals by doing so.

And she almost did, going up 40-15 in that pivotal game. And then came the the unforced errors on match points that will haunt her through the off-season. She pressed her shots, got tight, and missed balls that she had made earlier. Aga didn't do anything special to win those points. Vera simply choked. It looked painful just watching it on TV. I'm sure it was just as painful for the fans in the stands as they watched the air being let out of Vera's balloon.

After surviving those match points, something happened to Aga. One could sense that she had made a decision: she was not going to lose this match. Vera was going to have to beat her. And after the initial loss of those match points, Vera's confidence and game spiraled out of control. Aga was making her win the hard points, and she was quickly showing herself to be incapable of doing so.

She tried the Maria Shriekapova "scream your way to victory" technique, but it didn't help. Nothing helped. The dagger to her figurative heart came in an exchange that was typical of their points during the third set. After a 22-stroke rally that she had no right to win - but did - Aga broke Vera to level get back on serve at 4-5. Through sheer determination, defense, and running down every single ball, she got the break. A symbolic break on many levels, as Vera clearly never got over the loss of those match points.

Even though the momentum could easily have swung back again to Vera, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion at 6-5 that Aga would do what Vera had failed to do: serve out the match for the win. She did, and the score goes into the record books as 1-6 -2 7-5. Yet the score tells only a small part about how this match transpired, and not even the most interesting part. What the score doesn't tell you is that this match was all about the heart of Agnieszka Radwanska.

Earlier this year I wrote an article about Agnieszka in which I mentioned how puzzled I was by her on-court demeanor. She gives you absolutely no indication, by her face or her body language, how she is feeling out there, or if she even cares. But when you watch her play it's obvious that she cares. She wants that win badly! You can tell by her scrambling, her opportunism, her willingness to run down absolutely every ball and hit it from her knees if need be. Even with that extreme amount of exertion, you don't see the rigors of the points: but you sure as heck feel her determination.

Such was the case tonight. At times she looked out of sorts and/or disinterested. At other times she looked like a silent female Nadal, scrambling from defense to offense, making her opponent hit one more shot and daring her to go for yet another winner (or unforced error). This match, and its' winner, embodied pretty much everything that you think about when you think of a great match: great shots, great defense, great heart and guts, and a strong close for the comeback victory after fighting match points.

I was impressed with both women tonight. They both competed well under difficult circumstances. Radwanska didn't want to go out again and be 0-2 in two tough 3 set losses, and Vera was desperate to get the win and book her place in the semis to salvage a tough year. But tennis is cruel, and there can only be one winner even though both were deserving. In the end, Agnieszka stands out much more for the win. She had no right winning that match today...but she did.

Vera understandably beat a hasty retreat away from the crowd as her bottom lip trembled in preparation for the inevitable tears that were going to be shed after such a bitter loss. Agnieszka blew a kiss to the TV camera and smiled to the stands after her comeback win was complete.
A smile of happiness? Yes. Relief? Probably. Pride in her achievement? I hope so.