Serena Williams to face Sorana Cirstea in Rogers Cup final

Toronto, Aug 11 (IANS) World No.1 Serena Williams continued her success at the Rogers Cup with a tough 7-6(3), 6-4 victory over No.4 Agnieszka Radwanska in the women’s singles tennis semifinal here.

Williams, winner of 16 Grand Slam singles titles, will be looking to add to her resume. In the final Sunday, she will face No.27 Sorana Cirstea of Romania, who stunned China’s Li Na in straight sets in the other semifinal Saturday, reports Xinhua.

Williams and Radwanska battled in a closely-contested match. Williams used her power to counter the long rallies of the trickier Radwanska. In the end, the American’s power was just too much for the Pole to handle.

“It was definitely one of the tougher matches. I let her play her game, which is what she wanted to do but I wasn’t able to play my game as much,” said Williams.

Despite dictating the style of the match, the 24-year-old Radwanska still found herself chasing down deep ball after deep ball and exerting herself. Near the end of the first set, the Pole believed Williams stepped up her game to the next level.

“She really started to play much better in the end of the set, especially in the second set, and played very aggressively with deep balls. This is what makes her No.1, playing unbelievable in important moments. I couldn’t do anything about that,” said Radwanska.

In the other match, World No.5 Li Na was upset by Sorana Cirstea of Romania in straight sets 1-6, 6-7(5). The 23-year-old Romanian made quick work of Li in the first set in only 21 minutes.

In the second set, she overcame a 1-4 deficit to advance to her third career WTA final and first in nearly five years. She won the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan when she defeated German Sabine Lisicki in October 2008.

Williams is intrigued by the matchup against Cirstea.

“Last few months Cirstea has been really consistent. She is just a player who has finally found herself and she’s playing better and better and getting more confident. It’s going to be a really tough match,” said Williams.

As a two-time winner, a victory in the finals will bring Williams one step closer to tying Monica Seles‘ record of four Rogers Cup titles.