HALEP CRASHES, SHARAPOVA IN SEMIS AT WTA FINALS

AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA sent top seed Simona Halep crashing out of the WTA Finals yesterday with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 win which also put a resurgent Maria Sharapova into the semifinals. But despite her 500th career victory, Poland’s Radwanska now faces an anxious wait as she needs the Russian to beat Italy’s Flavia Pennetta in straight sets later if she is to enter the semis. “All I can do is watch and cheer for Maria,” Radwanska said. There are no such complex roundrobin calculations left for Halep, whose campaign was ended by Radwanska’s defensive skills and experience accumulated over seven appearances at the season finale. Halep retired at the China Open with a left Achilles tendon problem going into Singapore. Williams, who won a hattrick at the WTA Finals last year, opted to skip Singapore to rest after losing at the US Open, leaving the field wide open. The WTA Finals features the world’s top eight players split into Red and White round-robin pools. The top two in each pool will reach the semis, with the group winner facing the runnerup in the other to determine the finalists. Spain’s Garbine Muguruza (pix) is on top of White Group, which also includes Germany’s Angelique Kerber and Czech players Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova. Final standings in the group are to be determined today.