Dominika Cibulkova rallies past Caroline Wozniacki – Bratislava Exhibition 2011
Slovakia’s number one Dominika Cibulkova required three sets to surprise the world number one Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in a tipsy turvy three setter match at the Bratislava Exhibition 2011, a charity exhibition event taking
place on the hard courts in Bratislava, Slovakia. She jolted down a 6-4, 3-6, 10-4 victory over the 21-year-old Dane at her home soil.
The WTA blooming stars, Cibulkova and Wozniacki were the main attractions in this exhibition event and both displayed exceptional skills and abilities throughout the match. However, world number eighteen Cibulkova stunned the Dane,
ranked seventeen spots above her in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier Rankings, on their fourth battle this year.
The Bratislava native Cibulkova confidently entered the Slovakian courts and smoothly bagged entire serves without facing any breakpoint. With the help from the supportive crowd, she capitalised on one out of many breakpoint opportunities
to her advantage and sealed the opener with a 6-4 success.
The Danish number one quickly re-focused in the second set and held her opening serve convincingly. She then fired exquisite forehands and backhands from her arsenal of tricks and plucked in entire serves. Wozniacki then cashed
in a breakpoint chance to her advantage and clinched the equaliser by winning six games to three.
22-year-old found the track again when it mattered most. With her blistering slices, she dominated in the super tie-breaker and subsequently bagged the decider with a 10-4 victory.
The high flying Slovak is enjoying a spectacular run of season. She made quarter-final berths at Brisbane, Sydney, Paris, Madrid and Wimbledon, and made a last four showing at s-Hertogenbosch and Stanford WTA events. Mustering
her season further, Cibulkova made a final showdown at Linz WTA International event and lifted her maiden year-to-date title at Moscow WTA Premier event in October.
Wozniacki on the other hand enjoyed her best season after grabbing six titles this season. She also stayed at number one rank throughout the year with exception of one week when she was demoted by Belgian Kim Clijsters. The Dane
showed dismal performance at Istanbul WTA Championship but clinched titles at Dubai, Indian Wells, Charleston, Brussels, Copenhagen and New Haven WTA events. She also reached the title round at Doha and Stuttgart WTA Premier events and made into the last four
at the Australian and US Open.
Despite losing on her tenth confrontation with the Slovak, Wozniacki still leads the head-to-head series against the Cibulkova by 6-3 as this match would not be considered.
Later that day, Wozniacki teamed up with French Henri Leconte to tumble over Cibulkova and Iranian Mansour Bahrami in a mixed double match.
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