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Svetlana Kuznetsova continued her strong year with a hard-fought 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6) victory over fourth-seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore on Wednesday. The eighth-seeded Russian, who needed over two hours to dispatch Pliskova, improved to 22-8 in three-set matches this season. Kuznetsova reached the semifinals at Singapore for the first time by withstanding a challenging third set.
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She clinched her spot in the semifinals when Poland's Agnieska Radwanska recorded a 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 win over Garbine Muguruza of Venezuela.
Kuznetsova finally seized the match with a backhand following eight break points during the tiebreak. She won her fourth straight match and reached three sets for the fifth time in six outings.
"I felt the support of the crowd and I couldn't let anyone down," Kuznetsova said. "I had to fight."
The 31-year-old forced her 24-year-old opponent into 47 unforced errors and held Pliskova to only 32 winners.
In this event, Kuznetsova has been on the court for 5 hours, 6 minutes and began play following an 11-hour flight from Moscow.
Kuznetsova is one three-set win away from tying Petra Kvitova's all-time record.
In five prior WTA Finals appearances, Kuznetsova had never advanced beyond the round-robin stage.
After getting her latest win, Kunznetsova posted a picture of herself on Instagram that said: "They love me when I'm a winner. They judge me when I'm a loser. They always have an opinion. And they think they know better. But I say that they forget. They forget that I'm only human."
On Thursday, the four players from the Red Group will vie for the two semifinal spots in round-robin matches. No. 1 Angelique Kerber (2-0) will face No. 6 Madison Keys (1-1) while No. 3 Simona Halep (1-1) faces No. 7 Dominika Cibulkova (0-2).
