Yanina Wickmayer outplays Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open
World number 25 Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium defeated her Slovak opponent Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California on Tuesday night. The Belgian earned a spot into the quarter-final
of the tournament after her straight sets victory 7-5, 7-5, which took two hours and two minutes to conclude.
The Belgian avenged her last year’s defeat at the hands of Cibulkova and levelled her head-to-head record at 2-2 by winning at the Indian Wells. Wickmayer fought hard to outplay her opponent and register her 12th win
of the running year. The contest appeared fairly poised as the two players threw their best at each other. The action packed game was stuffed with plenty of break points, depicting the toughness of the contest.
Cibulkova was let down by her bleak serve and a number of unforced errors, providing ample opportunities for Wickmayer to take the edge over her. The Slovak merely delivered 58 per cent of her first serve on target and spilled
out nine costly double faults, a weak spot which cost her match. The Belgian exploited this weakness of her opponent to perfection and pushed Cibulkova to commit more errors in the game.
The Belgium had decent serve statistics in the match, delivering her first serve with 60 per cent accuracy and winning 34 out of 54 points on it. Both women had 10 opportunities each to crack a break in the opponent’s serve, with
Wickmayer converting six and Cibulkova availing just four. Wickmayer’s ability to grab crucial points on regularity was the critical success factor of her game.
The contest ignited with immense aggression from both players, with both trying to edge past their opponent and get to the top. An early exchange of four serve breaks was seen from both sides as the score moves on to 3-2 in Wickmayer’s
favour. The Belgian was very agile with her feet and converted many apparent winners from the Slovak into fiery return points across the court. Seven expensive double faults from Cibulkova assisted her opponent to get into a commanding position in the opener.
Wickmayer belted four break points in the opening set alone and secured 40 out of 77 total points to seal the first set to her name at 7-5.
The 21-year-old Slovak reformed herself in the second set to pose some resistance to her opponent. She raised her first serve to 62 per cent and reduced the double faults to two in the set but failed to collect sufficient points
to outplay the Belgian opponent. Wickmayer broke her opponent twice before reaching 7-5 to conclude victory for her and a pass to the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open.
Wickmayer will square off against the 10th seed Shahar Peer of Israel in the round of eight to battle it out for a semi-final berth. Peer defeated the world number five Francesca Schiavone in the fourth round to make
it to the quarter-finals.
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