Kaia Kanepi stuns Dominika Cibulkova to enter round two – Brussels Open 2013
Estonian star, Kaia Kanepi, surprised everyone after upsetting third seeded Dominika Cibulkova, in straight sets at the Brussels Open 2013 on Wednesday.
She nudged up a 6-4, 7-6(6) victory against the Slovak to secure a place in the round of 16 at this WTA Premier event taking place in Brussels, Belgium.
The Estonian showed tremendous tennis skills and abilities at the Royal Primerose Tennis Club. She warded off late resilience posed by Cibulkova and eventually inched closer towards the title.
Ranked 40th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Kanepi stormed into the Belgium dirt and drew the first blood in the opening game to take the initial lead. Despite squandering her edge in the sixth game, the Estonian stayed calm. She capitalised on another break
chance in the following game and eventually clicked the opener with a 6-4 win.
The former world number 15, Kanepi lost her track towards the proceeding set. She gifted away her serve in the eighth game and fell at 3-5. However, the Estonian snatched her break back in the very next game and got back in contention. The set went to a
tie-breaker where Kanepi edged past her rival, eventually sealing the set with a 7-6(6) success.
Overall, Kanepi penned down better stats as compared to the world number 16. She clobbered a lower first serve share of 60 per cent as compared to her rival’s 69 per cent but exceptionally marked 31 out of 42 points on it. The Estonian also took full advantage
of several double faults Cibulkova spilled and ended the match with 82 points.
Next in queue for the high flying Estonian is the Slovakian challenger, Jana Cepelova, in the pre-quarters. The Slovak made an epic comeback from a set down to overpower Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko with a 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 score line.
The fourth seed, Sloane Stephens from United States of America, had a better fate. She battled past the Bulgarian star, Tsvetana Pironkova, in a three-set thriller to progress. Stephens lost her serve four times but cashed five out of 15 break chances, eventually
sealing the deal with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 score line in two hours and 26 minutes.
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