Dominika Cibulkova ousts Polona Hercog
in 1st round – Kremlin Cup 2011
Eighth seeded Dominika Cibulkova showed the door to Polona Hercog in the main draw of the Kremlin Cup 2011. The two competitors had duelled on indoor hard courts of the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia. The eighth seeded Slovak
overpowered the unseeded Slovenian in straight sets of 6-3, 7-6(3) after one hour and fifty three minutes on Tuesday the 18th of October 2011.
Initiating the first round of the match was the eighth seeded Slovak, who expertly handled her serve and opened the scoreboard at 1-0. Next up was Hercog and she too held her serve to place herself beside Cibulkova on the scoreboard
at 1-1. In the following two games the players won on alternate service games and the scoreboard had shifted to 2-2.
The score progressed on even terms at 3-3 by the end of the sixth game as the two broke ach other back-to-back. However, in the seventh game Cibulkova held her serve and in the eighth broke her adversary to take the lead at 5-3.
She was now serving for the initial round and as she smashed a backhand shot down the line, she secured the opening set and was now one up in the match.
The second set was initiated by Hercog and she held her service game to comfortably place herself at 1-0 on the scoreboard. Trailing behind was Cibulkova and she too won her service game and rotated the scoreboard to 1-1. In the
following two games the players won on alternate serves and bagged a game each and by the end of the fourth game the scoreboard had shifted to 2-2.
The players matched an eye for an eye and broke each other one after the other in the fifth and the sixth game to once again tie the score at 3-3. The toe-to-toe run carried well into the tiebreaker and in the following six games
the score kept balancing out at 4-4, then 5-5 and eventually at 6-6 the set was pushed into a tiebreaker.
The neck-on-neck run lost steam in the tiebreaker and Cibulkova had taken the lead in the tiebreaker. With a series of breaks and holds she then managed to clinch the tiebreaker at 7-3, winning the set and the match.
Next up for the Slovakian is Klara Zakopalova in the second round.
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