2011 French Open: Vania King battles past Dominika Cibulkova to reach the second round
American tennis-pro Vania King stunned twenty second seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-7 (12), 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round of 2011 French Open in Paris. Ranked 115 in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, King has reached as
far as the third round in her 19 Grand Slam appearances. A win over world number 23 Cibulkova has sent her through to the second of Roland Garros for the second time in her career.
Having an impressive record here at Roland Garros, Cibulkova was expecting an easy win against the American but King had other ideas as she showed remarkable fighting ability and determination to force the opening set into the
tie-breaker. Cibulkova held her nerves and made most of her opponent’s inexperience as she bagged the opener in the tie-breaker.
The contestants looked to dominate one another as the second set started. King served with extreme accuracy and pushed her opponent right back to the baseline. Cibulkova struggled to handle the pressure and leaked crucial points
during the set. She smashed her forehand and backhand shots on to the net on several occasions. King converted a long rally in her favour to set up two set points and then played in a lovely chip shot to level the set score 1-1.
King looked on song in the final set as well. Her on-court movement and agility won her important points during the set. With three break of serve in the set, the American took things under complete control. Although Cibulkova
broke back once in the set, she was unable to create enough chances and eventually wore out to let the challenger move ahead at the prestigious Majors tournament.
Converting five out eight break chances during the match, King did not waste the opportunities that were presented to her. On the other hand Cibulkova struggled to capitalise on the break chances and managed to take seven out eleven
break points. King looked in more control of her game play and reached an impressive 72 per cent first serve conversion where as the Slovakian struggled in that department and achieved a mere 51 per cent first serve conversion.
Having had a disappointing season at the Women’s Tennis Association tour, King will be hoping to restore some of the lost pride with a solid run here in Paris. She has not gone past the second round of any of the tournaments she
has participated in since the year 2011 has started.
However, she must try in bring more consistency into her game if she wants to advance in the field full of fierce competitors. Her next round opponent will be Elena Baltacha of Britain who thrashed out Sloane Stephens on Tuesday.
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