Dominika Cibulkova scampers past Sara Errani to the semi-final - Apia Sydney International 2013
Italian number one, Sara Errani, fell victim to an upset at the hands of the 15th ranked Slovak star, Dominika Cibulkova, in the quarter-final of the Apia Sydney International on Wednesday. The 23-year-old Slovak dispatched
the third seed Errani in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 to book a berth in the last four stage of the event.
In the previous seven meeting, the Slovak held a close head-to-head lead of 4-3. However, this victory enabled her to create a room for herself and mount a psychological pressure on her rival despite the inferior ranking.
World number seven, Sara Errani, was physically at the court but her mental concentration levels were no way near the normal. She was constantly frustrated by the mistakes but couldn’t able to regroup, almost gave up quite early
in both sets. She was merely playing for the formality of completing the match and not trying to fight back and keep her hopes of winning the first title of the new season alive.
Cibulkova broke serve in the fourth game of the match and discounted her rival to a massive trail of 1-4 courtesy to a serve hold. She ruled the show for the rest of the proceedings; continued to capitalize on the opportunities
allotted to her. She broke the serve of the third seed Italian in the eighth game and won the opening set in quick succession.
Errani didn’t show any sort of intentions of an improved display in the second set; rather deteriorated further. She lost two breakpoints in succession at the start to go down a trail of 0-4. She won a lucky breakthrough in the
following game but couldn’t protect it with a serve hold that allowed her rival to serve for the set.
The 15th ranked Slovak made no mistake in ousting her rival; although faced a bit of trouble in holding on to her serve but didn’t break apart. She ended the contest in just a fraction over 72 minutes. She will contest
the semi-final match against the winner of the last-eight battle between the Russian qualifier, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and the German number one, Angelique Kerber.
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