Dominika Cibulkova conquers Christina McHale in the 2nd round – Bank of the West Classic 2011
Wednesday, 27th of July 2011, was the start of the second round of the Bank of the West Classic 2011. Dominika Cibulkova and Christina McHale were competing against each other for the first time
on the outdoor hard courts at the Taube Family Tennis Center, Stanford University, California. The world number 19 (Dominika) won the match 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in almost two hours.
Dominika opened the set by throwing an ace, and with a near perfect serve she struck zero double faults. Her serve was like a weapon against her opponent and did not allow McHale to rebound her shots. The Slovakian (Dominika)
achieved a grand ninety one percent in her total serve points along with an average defence that did not give a single break point to her rival, she was the stronger player.
Although, the crowds cheered for their home-girl (McHale), her defence was unstable and was lacking self confidence. However, she did manage to hit an ace but in the next couple of minutes her accuracy fluctuated and she struck
one line fault.
Both the players were extremely competitive against each other, however, Dominika won the set because of a consistent performance in her serve and return serve, while the American (McHale) had control over her serve but had lost
points mostly because of a poor defence.
A change of events took place during the second set and this time it was McHale who was granted her wish. She not only performed superbly in her serve but also managed to improve on her defence; she was able to save the only break
point she had allowed her opponent and instead, won two out of the four break points that she was faced with.
Although, Dominika’s defence was sloppy, it was not as bad as her opponent’s in the previous set. Dominika had an average win of fifty two percent in her total serve points but due to a poor return serve she lost most of her points
in the set.
The third set was the final deciding factor of the match and both players were eager to clench this set in order to win the match. During the third set both the players had one double fault each, the two were unable to save their
break points and managed to win a hundred percent of break points faced.
Due to inconsistency in her first serve and second serve points McHale was only able to achieve thirty nine percent in her total serve points. However, she had a mediocre return which gave her some leverage in her total set points.
While Dominika had an average serve her return serve was an exceptional sixty one percent.
Dominika won the set and the match because of a consistent return and serve along with an average defence she was able to bag five more points than her opponent. She will now be facing either Victoria Azarenka or Marina Erakovic.
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