Dominika Cibulkova defeats Mirjana Lucic in the 1st Round – Texas Open 2011
Mirjana Lucic took a beating from Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the Texas Open 2011. The two were meeting for the second time on the hard courts of Hilton DFW Lakes in Grapevine, Texas. Cibulkova won the match in straight
sets of 6-4, 6-0 to secure a berth in the second round.
The two players had previously contested against each other once prior to this event earlier this year at the third Grand Slam event, Wimbledon Championships. During the main draw of the event Cibulkova won the match by bouncing
back from a set down. This was a chance given by the Higher Power for Mirjana Lucic to avenge her loss but alas!
Cibulkova won 75% of the first serves along with a 53% win in the total service points and served brilliantly as she hit an ace. While, Lucic had an appalling 25% of her first return points and a total of 47% of total return points
and struck three double faults.
Slovak Cibulkova’s defence did not topple; hence, she was able to bag a 53% of her total returns in the opening set and was able to save 1 out of three break points and gave only two opportunities to her opponent to break her.
Whereas, Lucic was able to save seven out the ten break points on her serve and broke Cibulkova twice but it was one time fewer than Cibulko who broke her adversary thrice.
Taking the statistical edge the Slovak required she was able to achieve 53% of the total set points and bagged the set to her name.
One would have expected the 29-year-old (Lucic) to save some dignity after taking a thrashing in the first set, however, that was not the case. Instead during the second set Cibulkova threw an ace and struck three fewer double
faults than the Croatian Lucic, who had 5 net balls and no aces.
The Croatian’s (Lucic) total service points were an dreadful 38% subsequently, her return game was even more poorer than her serve with total return points amounting to 8 out of 24 in and thus attaining a total of a 33% win in
the total return points.
Mean while her opponent (Lucic) was not able to neither save nor win her break points. Cibulkova won the set because of an above average serve attaining 63% of total service points won and an exceptional return of 63% win of return
serve and limited her opponent to not winning a single game. The 22-year-old (Cibulkova) was able to save a 100% of her break points along with capitalizing on another 100% of break points faced; she broke her opponent three times.
Cibulkova was a better player than her opponent despite her age, and with a powerful serve and strong defence she bagged a straight set victory in 1 hour and 23 minutes.
With a 2-0 lead against Lucic, she will now face the Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko in the second round of the Texas Open 2011.
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