The WTA Finals have become a tournament crying out for a heroine after Serena Williams pulled out. After four days, the call has been answered by perhaps the last person anyone might have predicted -- 31-year-old Svetlana Kuznetsova.
On Wednesday in Singapore, Kuznetsova played the lead role in an epic that rivaled her dramatic three-set win two days earlier against Agnieszka Radwanska. Kuznetsova outlasted US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova in another agonizingly close tug-of-war lasting 2 hours, 17 minutes, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6). Just as importantly, she has so enthralled and energized the crowd, that anyone planning to ask for a ticket refund because of Williams' absence probably decided to hang on to those seats.
"As long as I got here at the last moment, I decided I wouldn't let myself -- or anybody else -- down," Kuznetsova told the on-court interviewer as the crowd unleashed another roar of approval following her last win.
Kuznetsova came to these championships like a guest mistakenly showing up at a dinner party to which she wasn't invited, featuring people who aren't exactly her crowd. But coming out of nowhere is Kuznetsova's default mode of arrival. That's how she won singles trophies at the French and US Opens. It also helps explain why Kuznetsova has never been to the the semifinals of the WTA Finals before. Consistency and surprise are incompatible.
Beyond that, Kuznetsova has always been something of a misfit on the tour. Her family is athletic royalty in Russia (brother Nikolay was an Olympic silver medalist in cycling), but her talent has always been bundled in a sensitive, introspective sensibility. To some, Kuznetsova is a textbook example of the proverbial "soulful" Russian, winning major events to take a place among the world's tennis elite while sustaining a love-hate relationship with the sport.
Kuznetsova qualified for these championships with a desperate, late-season push. She was obliged to win the Kremlin Cup (where she was defending champ) during the final week of the regular WTA Tour season in order to displace Johanna Konta at No. 8. Kuznetsova arrived in Singapore the day after she won in Moscow, and barely 24 hours before, she would play her first round-robin match. She was jet-lagged and in a group that included talented, highly touted youngsters Madison Keys, Pliskova and Garbine Muguruza.
What's easily forgotten, though, is that Kuznetsova is one of those people who will always surprise you. When inspiration strikes, she sloughs off the negativity that sometimes haunts her and is nothing less than brilliant. When inspiration strikes, she is capable of anything. That includes taking scissors to her own hair during a changeover, as the Singapore crowd witnessed Monday.
Irritated by the way her French braid lashed her eyes and face every time she hit a forehand, Kuznetsova asked the umpire to have scissors delivered and then proceeded to cut off a few inches of her braid. Either she isn't familiar with the biblical tale of Samson, or she just figured it's a guy thing.
"It was bothering me a lot," she told the press later. "When I was hitting the forehands, I hit a good shot and it would hit my eyes. I thought, 'What's more important? My hair, which can grow, or the match?'"
How do you argue with that logic? Moreover, it was classic Kuznetsova, in that she was at the very end of the line when they handed out vanity.
Few imagined that Kuznetsova could rebound from that debilitating, 2-hour, 48-minutes effort against Radwanska. But she produced another gem of consistent ball-striking and unrivaled court coverage. There's isn't a quicker, more mobile player on the WTA Tour. What a point guard she would make.
After Kuznetsova advanced, the emcee asked her where her extraordinary stamina and energy came from. "From my heart," she replied. "Something changed this year. I enjoy my game, and I enjoy the crowd."
Once again, Kuznetsova is showing up where she's least expected. On this occasion, she's certainly welcomed.