Dominika Cibulkova bulldozes Erika Sema in the second round brawl – Bank of the West Classic 2012
World number 15, Dominika Cibulkova, had no difficulties at all in disposing of the 23-year-old age fellow, Erika Sema of Japan, in the second round of the Bank of the West Classic tournament on Thursday. The third seeded Slovak contender took just 76 minutes to wrap up the contest at 6-1, 6-3, to reach the quarter-final draw in a comprehensive manner.
Eyeing for her maiden WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) championship title this season, Cibulkova was playing her opening match of the tournament, as she received a bye in the first round. She came out with all her guns blazing right from the beginning and absolutely manhandled the 137th ranked Japanese throughout the match to register her 23rd victory of the year.
The third seed Slovakian had a below par first serve precision of merely 44 per cent in the matchup but she dropped just four points on it, clinching 23 out of 27 points en route to victory. She crafted a total of five break points and converted all of them comprehensively, whilst Sema could barely cash in one of her seven break points to finish on the losing side in the end.
Sema held her opening serve of the match before suffering the first blow from the Slovak tennis ace in the fourth game to trail 1-3. Cibulkova pushed the accelerator further and stung another break of serve in the sixth game to reach 5-1, eventually serving out of the opening set to lead 1-0 in the match.
The Japanese underdog sunk further in the following set and suffered consecutive break points from her third seed rival to fall back at 0-4 in not time. Cibulkova was cruising through the second set when Sema registered her lone break point in the eighth game, only to be broken in the very next game to suffer a 3-6 loss in the match.
Cibulkova will continue her voyage at the Bank of the West Classic and will face off against the ninth seed Romanian, Sorana Cirstea, in the quarter-final battle on Friday’s eve. Cirstea was successful against Saisai Zheng of China, 6-3, 6-3, in the second round.
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