By Chris Oddo/ Wednesday, October 23, 2013

 

Serena Williams remained undefeated at the WTA Championships in Istanbul with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Agnieszka Radwanska on Wednesday.

Photo Source: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

2013 has been all about Serena Williams, so why shouldn't the year-end Championships be about the 17-time Grand Slam champion as well?

So far, it's turning out that way.

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Serena Williams remained undefeated in Istanbul with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over world No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska on Thursday, setting up a highly anticipated clash of undefeated players on Thursday, when Williams will meet 2011 Istanbul champion Petra Kvitova in her third round-robin match.

On Wednesday, Williams completed her eighth victory over Radwanska in eight career matches, saving seven of eight break points faced and converting on four of five break point opportunities of her own.

After a breezy first set, Radwanska pushed Williams in the second. The 24-year-old Pole broke Williams on her third break point of the fifth game to get back on serve in the set. She would then miss out on a golden opportunity to go up 0-30 in Williams' next service game when she failed to knock an easy backhand sitter into the open court.

“It's the end of the year, I think I'm a little mentally tired,” Williams said. “I really had to fight in that second set just to stay up mentally.”

Radwanska held again to level the set at four-all, but when she served to stay in the match, Williams finished her off with a clean backhand down-the-line winner to end the match in one hour and 22 minutes.

Williams finished with 35 winners against 24 unforced errors, but only one ace on the evening.

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Radwanska, who had nine winners against six unforced errors, dropped to 0-2 on the week, and will need to defeat Angelique Kerber in her final round-robin match if she is to have any hope of advancing to the semifinals.

Williams is looking forward to playing Kvitova, who is 1-0 after defeating Radwanska on Tuesday in Istanbul.

The Czech is known for her indoor hard court prowess, and owns a career record of 47-15 in such matches. Williams owns a record of 53-15 on indoor hard.

“She's playing well,” Williams said. “Whatever happens, happens at this point.”

Williams owns a 4-0 career head-to-head record against Kvitova, but the Czech took Williams to three sets in their last meeting in Doha earlier in the year.