Kuznetsova snips hair during win

Svetlana Kuznetsova snipped off part of her braid with scissors during a changeover before going on to beat defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 at the season-ending WTA Finals in Singapore. The sheared hair remained on her chair for the rest of the match.

Trailing 2-1 and down a break in the third set, Kuznetsova, without the benefit of a mirror, took scissors to the back of her head and chopped away.

“It was bothering me a lot,” said the Russian, who asked the umpire to have scissors brought to the court. “When I was hitting forehands, every time I would hit a good shot it would hit my eye.”

Although it was an unusual sight for fans, Kuznetsova isn’t the first player to cut their hair on court. Andy Murray cut the front of his hair during a defeat to Rafael Nadal at the year-ending 2015 ATP Finals in London. Boris Becker trimmed his bangs during a four-set Wimbledon semifinal victory over Ivan Lendl in 1988.

In the other match, Karolina Pliskova, who was up by a set and a break, came back from 2-5 down in the third set to defeat Garbine Muguruza 6-2, 6-7 (4) 7-5.

Muguruza had one match point at 5-2, 40-30, but could not close down Pliskova, who won 20 of the final 24 points. In other news: • Tomas Berdych’s chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals were dealt a blow as Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia defeated the 10th-ranked Czech 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-5 in the first round of the Erste Bank Open at Vienna. Berdych held the eighth and final qualifying spot for the season-ending tournament coming into this event but now could be overtaken by David Goffin and Marin Cilic, who are playing in the Swiss Indoors at Basel, Switzerland, this week.