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Svetlana's chop shot! Bizarre moment tennis star hacks off her ponytail on court after it kept hitting her in the eye

By Ap Reporter

Published: 12:08 EDT, 24 October 2016 | Updated: 05:20 EDT, 26 October 2016



Russian tennis star Svetlana Kuznetsova has stunned onlookers by pulling out a pair of scissors and hacking off her hair on court.

The bizarre incident took place during her opening match at the WTA Finals in Singapore.

Kuznetsova cut off the portion of her braid at the back of her head during the changeover before the third set.

Explaining her haircut, she said: 'It was bothering me a lot. I was trying to put it behind my headband but my hair is very thick and heavy.

'When I was hitting forehands, every time I would hit a good shot it would hit my eye and I would struggle.

'I thought "OK, what's more important right now, my hair or the match?" So I thought, OK, I have got to go for it right now.' Kuznetsova starts cutting her hair after it bothered her during the match on Monday Kuznetsova has a pair of scissors in her right hand during the changeover in the third set Kuznetsova uses the scissors to chop off a portion of the braid at the back of her head Svetlana Kuznetsova celebrates victory in her opening match at the WTA Finals

Kuznetsova fought back, however,  saving a match point on Agnieszka Radwanska's serve near the end, and eventually prevailing on a third match point to break Radwanska's serve.

The 31-year-old looked physically spent as she claimed a draining 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 win over defending champion Radwanska in nearly three hours.




Kuznetsova was the last player to earn a berth into the eight-player, year-end championships when she defended her Moscow title on Saturday.

The Russian arrived in Singapore on Sunday afternoon after a gruelling four weeks of chasing a spot in the WTA Finals for the first time since 2009. Kuznetsova hits a return during her first match in Singapore on Monday evening Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska chases down a ball at the Singapore Sports Hub

Kuznetsova played three tournaments in China ahead of taking a wildcard into the Moscow tournament.

Kuznetsova immediately broke back after the impromptu haircut early in the third set, but after dropping her serve again in the fifth game she cried into her towel on the changeover.

Still, trailing 2-4 Kuznetsova refused to surrender and climbed back into the set.

The hair Kuznetsova sheared off remained on her chair for the remainder of the match.

'At some point I was just ready to let it go, just lay on the court and let them take me out of here,' Kuznetsova told the cheering crowd. 'I was just trying to stay in there and hang in there.'

Kuznetsova is not the first tennis star to hack off their hair on court. Andy Murray gave himself the chop at the 2015 ATP Finals in London and Boris Becker cut his golden locks during the Wimbledon semifinal in 1988. Radwanska (left) and Kuznetsova shake hands across the net after a draining match

Meanwhile, the other match in the White Group followed a similar pattern as Karolina Pliskova beat Garbine Muguruza 6-2 6-7 (4/7) 7-5.

The Czech, in her first ever appearance at the season finals, broke twice in succession to lead 4-1 in the first set, eventually closing it out 6-2 with an emphatic unreturned serve.

She also picked off Muguruza's serve in the first game of the second set but the Spaniard levelled at 3-3 and broke to lead 5-3, only to immediately let that advantage slip away.

They went to a tie-break where momentum continued to swing, Pliskova moving 3/0 up and then 4/3 down before Muguruza closed out a 7/4 success.

Pliskova faced match point at 5-2 down in the deciding set on Muguruza's serve but dug deep for two successive breaks to level at 5-5 and a third to clinch victory.





Svetlana Kuznetsova has haircut on court before fighting back to beat Agnieszka Radwanska at WTA Finals





