Flavia Pennetta’s brilliant late-career flourish was brought to an end by Maria Sharapova on Thursday, the reverse against the Russian sending her out of the WTA Finals and into retirement.
The reigning US Open champion only needed to win a set against Sharapova to reach the semifinals but after going a break up in the first set, she stuttered before losing 7-5, 6-1.
Top seed Simona Halep’s season also came to an end when she lost 7-6(5), 6-1 to an inspired Radwanska, who finished runner-up to Sharapova in the Red Group.
The Pole survived a “crazy” first set, when she went a break down and recovered from 1-5 down in the tie-break. The second set was a lopsided affair.
THE RESULTS: Red Group: Agnieszka Radwanska bt Simona Halep 7-6(5), 6-1; Maria Sharapova bt Flavia Pennetta 7-5, 6-1.
Doubles: White Group: Caroline Garcia & Katarina Srebotnik bt Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Lucie Safarova 6-3, 3-0, retd.; Garbine Muguruza & Carla Suarez Navarro bt Hao-Ching Chan & Yung-Jan Chan 7-5, 6-4.