Dominika Cibulkova over runs injured Elena Baltacha in first round – Generali Ladies Linz 2011
Seventh seed, Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova overpowered Great Britain’s Elena Baltacha with a 4-6, 7-6(3), 1-0 retirement victory in the opening round of the Generali Ladies Linz 2011, a WTA International event from the Tier-II
series taking place on the indoor hard courts in Linz, Austria. Cibulkova was leading a game in the final set when the British number one was forced to retire due to a low back injury on Tuesday.
The Hot Shot star, Cibulkova was 6-4, 4-1 down when she got back on the $220,000 track and triumphed over Baltacha, ranked 57th in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, in the second set. The Slovak was leading a game
in the final set when the British woman faced severe pain in her back and was forced to retire after two hours and twelve minutes of match playoff.
The high spirited British star thundered into the Intersport Arena and reeled off first three games in a row through angled shots from her arsenal of skills. Despite losing her edge in the fifth game, Baltacha broke the Slovak’s
serve again in the tenth game to seal the opener with a 6-4 score line. She formulated a much better first serve share of 57 percent as compared to Cibulkova’s 39 percent and registered an acceptable 48 percent win on it. Furthermore, the British woman saved
one out of two breakpoints faced and capitalised on two out of five breakpoint chances to her advantage.
22-year-old Slovak failed to find the correct path and after losing her serve early on, she subsequently went 4-1 down. However, she roared back by snatching her break back in the seventh game. Cibulkova broke the British’s serve
again in the eleventh game but failed to keep her serve in the follow-up game, leading the set to a tie-breaker. The Slovak dominated in it to bag the equaliser with a 7-6(3) score line. She formulated a poor first serve share of 42 percent as opposed to Baltacha’s
56 percent but registered an impressive 76 percent win on it. Further adding the spice, the Slovak saved four out of six breakpoints faced and converted two out of three breakpoint opportunities.
The beaming Cibulkova carried her momentum in the final set and pocketed her serve in the opening game. She had an exceptional first serve of 80 percent as opposed to Baltacha’s null and earned a perfect win on it.
The Slovak will move ahead to face Italian Sara Errani who crushed Slovenian Polona Hercog with a bagel to reach this spot. World number 47, Errani took almost an hour to throw aside the Slovene with a 6-0, 6-3 victory.
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