San Diego, California: Agnieszka Radwanska ignored her troublesome shoulder injury to beat Germany`s vomiting Andrea Petkovic 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 on Saturday to reach the final of the San Diego Open.
Radwanska, who hasn`t won a WTA Tour singles title for three years, will play top seeded Vera Zvonareva in the final.
The Pole, who beat Daniela Hantuchova in three sets in the quarter-finals on Friday, injured her shoulder at the Stanford tournament last week and her service speed has been heavily reduced because of the problem.
"I`m really doing everything to go on court and play my best," Radwanska told reporters. "You try to do everything, the painkillers, just keep fighting.”"It was pretty similar (against Hantuchova). I could handle it again today. I`m very happy that I could close these tough matches."
Despite playing with heavy strapping protecting her right shoulder all week, Radwanska, the world number 13, was able to reach the final in San Diego for a second consecutive year.
Petkovic had started the match brightly by hitting through the crafty Radwanska in the first set but the German began to lose steam in the second.
Petkovic, who said she ate something bad at lunch, then sprinted off the court to the bathroom when she was 0-40 down in the fifth game of the second set to be sick.
"At the point where I ran out, I couldn`t hold it back anymore," she said. "I didn`t want to be on... (television) for the next 25 years."Tour supervisor Melanie Tabb chose not to penalise Petkovic and allowed her to take a medical time out because the German had informed her and umpire Kerrilyn Cramer beforehand that she might need to dash because of the ailment.
After going down 4-0 in the third set, Petkovic finally regained her energy and reeled off three straight games behind her booming groundstrokes.
But the agile Pole held firm and sealed victory in two-hours and 10 minutes after forcing her opponent to make a forehand error.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, August 07, 2011, 12:17