Sara Errani ousts Dominika Cibulkova to take the crown – Barcelona Ladies Open 2012
World number 28, Sara Errani, ended the dream run of the 17th ranked Slovak, Dominika Cibulkova, in the final of the Barcelona Ladies Open on Sunday. She dumped her in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to collect the second crown
of the season; taking just a fraction over and 65 minutes.
It was a stunning start to the match with no player being able to capitalize on the serve for the first five games. It was the Italian seventh seed contestant who registered the first serve hold of the match in the sixth game and
took a lead of 4-2.
Cibulkova had to fight back immediately but wasn’t able to hold her serve despite saving one breakpoint in the seventh game. The scene looked good for the Italian who dropped just a single point in the final game of the opening
set to inch a step closer to the crown.
The third seed Slovak had to bounce back a set down to save an upset against her but the start to the second set wasn’t impressive for her at all. She dropped serve game in the beginning and went down to a trail of 1-4.
Errani was two breakpoints up than her opponent and registered a thumping serve hold to stamp her authority into the match; lead was improved to 5-1. Despite a tight serve hold in the following game, the Slovak tennis ace couldn’t
stop her opponent from winning the match.
In a post-match interview, the Italian stated, “Clay courts are probably better for me than for Cibulkova. She hits very hard and is very fast, but while she can hit two winners in a row, she can also hit consecutive errors - knowing
that I knew I had to keep up with her pace, keep the ball deep and be very solid, but also stay aggressive. I'm very happy because it's the second tournament I've won in an amazing season for me. It wasn't an easy tournament. There were really good players
here. The last two matches were quicker than I thought they would be."
Later in the day, the Italian teamed up with the defending singles champion, Roberta Vinci, to stun the duo of Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone. It has been a cracking season for the Italian starlet who plans to break into
the Top-20 players of the world by the start of the London Olympics in August.
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