Dominika Cibulkova junks Jie Zheng in round two - Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo 2012
World number 13, Dominika Cibulkova, dispatched the 27th ranked Chinese, Jie Zheng, in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Tuesday. She gusted away the 29-year-old Zheng to a bagel in the opening
set and lost just three games before confirming the third round spot. A conquest of just 78 minutes witnessed the final score line of 6-0, 6-3.
It seems like the 23-year-old Slovak loves playing against the Chinese athlete as the opening set bagel was her second in two matches. The two players met in the third round of Sony Ericsson Open at Miami earlier this year and
the 12th seed Slovak hammered her rival away with scores of 6-2, 6-0. So, it has been a treat watching Cibulkova taking on the Chinese star.
Cibulkova won 30 points in the opening set including three consecutive breakpoints. She had seven opportunities to break serve that shows some fight from the Chinese but the salvation of breakpoints didn’t help Zheng at all. The
27th ranked Chinese had two opportunities to get back into the match with a breakthrough but she squandered them and handed over a victory to her rival. The score line somehow doesn’t do justice to the fight shown by the 29-year-old Zheng.
The second set witnessed a serve hold at both ends. After Zheng held her serve, a big round of sarcastic applause was heard and seen at the arena that placed a trivial smile on Cibulkova’s face as well. However, the 12th
seed Slovak soon captured the flow of set and bagged the breakpoint to make it 3-1 in her favour. She failed to protect the breakthrough as the momentum swirled in favour of the Chinese superstar who equalized the scores with a breakpoint.
Both players held their serves before a breakpoint was won by the 23-year-old Slovak who completed the conquest with a commanding serve hold. Up next for the short heighted Slovak blonde is the eighth seed Aussie powerhouse, Samantha
Stosur, who gusted away the former French Open Champion, Francesca Schiavone, earlier in the day. It will be an entreating encounter to say the least.
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