Dominika Cibulkova, Maria Kirilenko sail into the third round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Slovakian tennis-pro Dominika Cibulkova continued her fabulous run on the green surface as she crushed Polona Hercog of Slovenia 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday to advance into the third round of 2011 Wimbledon Tennis Championships in United
Kingdom.
Seeded 24th at the Women’s Tennis Association tournament, Cibulkova looked in commanding touch in her second round match against the Slovenian rival. Her on-court movement and agility was admirable as she made her opponent
run for her money.
Looking to achieve considerable results at the Wimbledon this time around, Cibulkova made a very strong start to the match as she clinched four straight points on her first service game to take 2-0 lead in the opening set. Breaking
her opponent twice, she gained a very healthy 5-1 lead. Smashing her gorgeous forehand and backhand winner all over the court, she pocketed the opener 6-1. Hercog was short of answers against some high quality tennis displayed by her opponent as she managed
to win only 16 points in the set.
The second set also tells a very similar story. Cibulkova made most of the available opportunities as she converted two of three break points in the set to earn an impassable lead. Her game plan was assisted heavily by Hercog who
committed a large number of unforced errors. Cibulkova adopted a very aggressive approach throughout the match and won crucial net points. Playing in a brilliant chip shot, she made two match points available to her and then converted the first one to end
the match that lasted for only one hour and six minutes.
Hercog was disappointed with her effort. She came up with a great performance in her opening round match at the tournament. However in the second round, she lost the track against a quality player and eventually wore out.
Number 26 seed Maria Kirilenko also steered into the third round with a solid 7-5, 7-5 victory over Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn.
Kirilenko serve was on target most of the times as she achieved an impressive 70 per cent first serve. Breaking the serve at regular intervals throughout the match, she took complete control of the situation. Tanasugarn broke back
twice but she failed to handle the pressure and gifted points to her opponent at times. Making 18 unforced errors and 5 double faults in the match, she struggled to get any timing on her shots.
Kirilenko hit nine serve aces and 38 winners in the match. She will be hoping to bring more consistency into her game to achieve similar sort of results in her upcoming matches at the tournament.
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