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By Chris Oddo | Sunday September 27, 2015

 
Radwananska, Tokyo 2015

Agnieszka Radwanska played the perfect match in Tokyo to down Belinda Bencic and earn her first title in over a year.

Photo Source: Koji Watanabe/Getty

Agnieszka Radwanska is back in peak form—and back in the Top-10. The 26-year-old Pole won her first title since August of 2014 on Sunday in Tokyo, taking down rising star Belinda Bencic, 6-2, 6-2. The victory gives Radwanska a 15th career title and marks the first time that she has won the same event multiple times.

More: Radwanska Dazzles with Defense in Win over Cibulkova

“I’m just so happy that I could win this tournament today,” Radwanska said after her one hour and 26 minute triumph. “This is my first tournament that I’ve won twice, so it’s very special for me.”

18-year-old Bencic came in red-hot, with back-to-back top-10 wins over Garbine Muguruza and Caroline Wozniacki, but she was quickly neutralized in Sunday’s final but the fleet-footed and pitch-perfect Radwanska.

Though Bencic had the more offensive court positioning in many of the rallies, she could not find ways to get Radwanska out of her comfort zone. That was not a problem for Radwanska, who repeatedly got Bencic on the run, and rarely missed her targets.

The Pole struck 28 winners against just 15 unforced errors and did not surrender a break until she had won eight straight games in a row to all but salt the match away.

Bencic wasn’t blown off the court by any means, she simply could not find ways to finish points against Radwanska, despite gaining the edge in many points. More often than not a swift counter would force Bencic to retreat and go on the run, and as fatigue set in, her error count grew along with her frustration.


Bencic hit a respectable 21 winners against 23 unforced errors, but she was broken five times on 14 break points and she only managed to win 35 percent of her second serve points.

Radwanska will return to the Top-10 on Monday, inching up to No. 8 in the world, and she’ll also move into the Top 10 in the Road to Singapore standings, with plenty of time left to make a run into the Top 8.

"The Asia tour is key for me to go to Singapore, so I think this week I did a great job to give myself a better chance to go back there again," she said.

Radwanska improves to 35-21 on the year, and 4-11 against the WTA’s top-20. She will head to Wuhan where she is slated to face Venus Williams at next week’s Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.


Bencic drops to 35-19 on the season, and missed the chance to make her top-10 debut by losing Sunday’s final. She’ll face Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard in the first round at Wuhan.

 

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