SINGAPORE - On day two of the WTA Finals, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Karolina Pliskova came up with big comeback wins as play began in the White Group.

In the opening match, Kuznetsova defeated defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5, 1-6, 7-5. The Russian continued her resurgent 2016 with a bizarre comeback after having lost an early service break in the third set.

After taking the first set, the Pole steamrolled Kuznetsova in the second and parlayed that momentum into the third set, seizing control of the match. But it was an adjustment between games that might have made a difference and certainly caught the eye of observers. Seated during a changeover, the veteran took out a pair of scissors and clipped part of her ponytail off as a stunned crowd looked on.

She would rally, overcoming a match point opportunity by Radwanska who served at 5-4. Kuznetsova battled back to even the set and subsequently won the next two games to log her first win of the week.

She explained her decision to snip her locks after the match, “It was bothering me a lot. I was trying to put it behind my headband but my hair is very thick and heavy,” she said. “Every time when I was hitting good forehands and coming forward, it would hit my eye and I struggled. So, I thought 'Okay, what's more important now, my hair which I can let grow or the match? Okay, I got to go for it right now' and that's it.”

Kuznetsova continued, “I was just trying to give myself the best chance and remove what was bothering me. At the time, I don't even know how much I cut there.”

In the second match, Pliskova rallied to defeat Garbine Muguruza 6-2, 7-6, 7-5. In a contest with dramatic ebbs and flows, the Czech overcame a 2-5 deficit in the third set to win the two-hour, thirty-minute encounter.

Power tennis was on display as each attempted to execute their first-strike strategy. Pliskova was fast out of the gate gaining a 4-1 edge, earning two service breaks in the first set and held off attempts by the Spaniard to climb back into the set.

The 24-year old would carry her attack into the second set, gaining an early break of serve. But this time Muguruza found her game and began to pressure Pliskova. She fought back, sending the set into a tiebreak where she would seize momentum, winning 7-4.

It appeared that the French Open champ had completely turned the match around as she dashed out to a 4-0 lead in the third set as frustration set in for the Czech. But Pliskova would claw back after a 15-minute game that resulted in a service break.

However, it was short-lived as she could not consolidate the break and fell to 2-5. Afterward, the world no. 5 quickly returned to court during the changeover, appearing to accept her fate. But she quickly found her competitive spirit once again.  As frustration shifted to Muguruza, Pliskova ultimately broke serve four consecutive times, while she held hers down the stretch, to close out the match.

Pliskova recorded 14 aces during the match while Muguruza misfired with 9 double faults and yielded 43 unforced errors.

Play at the WTA Finals will continue Tuesday as Angelique Kerber faces Simona Halep while Madison Keys will battle Dominika Cibulkova in Red Group play.