Dominika Cibulkova and Petra Kvitova win in the second round of 2011 Sony Ericsson Open
Dominika Cibulkova survived a three set thriller against Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 on Friday to qualify for the third round at 2011 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
The Slovakian tennis-pro started the match aggressively. She took the first set with ease dropping just a game. Cibulkova broke the challenger twice in the set and earned crucial points with her strong ground stroke play.
In the second set, Bacsinszky organized herself and came up with a better strategy against her opponent. The Swiss made the serve break in ninth game and showed great determination to hold on to her serve games. Bacsinszky won
the second 7-5 with a forehand winner down the line.
Cibulkova fought back brilliantly in the final set. Despite being under immense pressure she timed the ball sweetly. The 21 year old Slovak successfully counter attacked her opponent with the serve break and kept her defense in
check as well. She saved 6 out 10 break points in the match which proved to be a decisive factor at the end. Cibulkova also dominated in the serve return department converting nearly 50 percent of the points. Bacsinszky on the other hand, struggled to find
her form. She looked to be in complete control of the situation but took unnecessary risks and hence paid the price. World number 45 Bacsinszky gifted 10 double fault points to her opponent which of course allowed her opponent to play with freedom.
Ranked 25th in the world, Cibulkova has given considerable performances since the start of this season. She reached the quarterfinals at Sydney to start the year with and then went as far as the third round at the Australian
Open. Just over a week ago she defeated world number 3 Zvonareva to reach the fourth round of BNP Paribas Open. She will be hoping to continue her decent form in her fourth round match against world number 8 Victoria Azarenka. Azarenka defeated Lucie Hradecka
to reach that far at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
In another match Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic cruised to an easy 6-1, 6-2 victory against Varvara Lepchenko of United States at the prestigious Women’s Tennis Association event.
The Czech played exceptionally well and required only 54 minutes to dispatch her opponent. She took the first set quite comfortably and then completely overshadowed her opponent in the second set with her effective baseline game
play. Varvara looked out of sorts and presented easy opportunities to her opponent.
Ranked 18th in the world, Kvitova has been in great form over the past few months and won third WTA title of her career at Paris indoors earlier this year when she defeated Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters in the
final.
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