Dominika Cibulkova and Simona Halep reach second round – Topshelf Open 2013
Second seed, Dominika Cibulkova, and the Romanian star, Simona Halep, triumphed over their rivals to power into the second round at the Topshelf Open 2013 on Monday. The Slovak rallied past Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino and Halep
outshined Annika Beck in three sets to progress at this Wimbledon warm-up event taking place in s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
The Slovakian beauty squandered many match points in the second set but maintained focused, subsequently extending her lead by 3-0 in the head-to-head series against Dominguez Lino.
The 24-year-old was quoted in a post match presser, "It was really tough today. It's never easy to play Lourdes. It was such a long match. For two weeks I didn't do anything. I couldn't run. I couldn't go on a bike. So it was a
big test, and I'm really happy to be back. It's nice preparation for Wimbledon."
Drawing the first blood in the second game, Cibulkova stormed into the Dutch grass courts and leaped to a 3-0 lead. After Dominguez Lino came on the score board for the first time, the Slovak stroke out another three games and
pulled out the opener with a breadstick.
In the second set, the 32-year-old lifted her game. She was down three times with losing her serve. However, Dominguez Lino recovered in all three occasions and took the set to a tie-breaker. She cruised to a 4-0 lead in it before
sealing the equaliser with a 7-6(5) win.
The world number 18, Cibulkova, re-gained her strength in the deciding set. She exchanged four break chances and dragged the set to another tie-breaker. The Slovak showed her class in it before closing out the decider with a 7-6(3)
success.
Ranked 45th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Halep, recorded a similar victory later that day. She cashed two break chances and clinched the opener with a breadstick.
The German teenager found the right track in the proceeding set. She got the coveted break in the second game and jumped to a 3-0 lead. Beck held her remaining serves with poise and availed another break chance in the last game
to grab the equaliser with a 6-2 win.
In the deciding set, the Romanian re-focused again. With two breaks of serve, she jumped to a 3-1 lead. Halep smoothly held her remaining serves and capitalised on another break chance in the end to bag the decider with a 6-3 success.
The Romanian star commented in a courtside interview after pocketing the match, “I'm more confident now after winning a tournament. Last week was a good week for me, but it was clay. Here it's grass, which is much different. It
was difficult because I only got to practice one hour on the grass, but I feel good and I'm happy that I won.”
Magdalena Rybarikova also stole the show and progressed into the second round. She fended off all 11 breakpoints she faced and marked all three break chances to record a straight set victory over Arantxa Rus.
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