Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 Dominika Cibulkova
This match is a thriller, seeing Radwanska coming from 5-2 down in the final set to defeat Cibulkova in 3 sets. This match also started one of the rivalries of 2016 between Radwanska and Cibulkova, which saw more 3 sets matches between them coming our way later in the season.
Radwanska
made the first breakthrough of the match at 1-1, breaking Cibulkova’s serve with
some amazing defence. There was an exchange of breaks after Radwanska’s
breakthrough, allowing Radwanska to keep her nose in front of the scoreboard. From
3-2, it went all smooth-sailing for Radwanska, who broke once again to win the
set 6-3.
It was
Cibulkova who drew first blood in the second set by breaking Radwanska’s serve
to love after she played some merciless offensive tennis. Once again, there was
another exchange of breaks in the set, but Cibulkova managed to keep her
advantage going on, and successfully closed out the set 6-3 after she broke
Radwanska’s serve once more.
Radwanska
made the perfect start to the final set, with a break to love game to start the
set and looked on course for a hard-fought victory. Nevertheless, Cibulkova
played her best tennis when she won 4 games in a row from 0-1 down to lead 4-1
and be just 2 games away from a great win. Radwanska showed why she was
consistently ranked in the World’s Top 10 when she prevailed in a marathon 20-points
game to hold her serve and lessen the deficit, saving a break point in the
process to prevent Cibulkova from leading 5-1 and give her a chance of serving
out the match. Cibulkova then held her serve comfortably to lead 5-2 and be
closer to the magnificent victory. Serving to stay in the match, Radwanska
saved a match point to keep herself in the match, and Cibulkova would rue the
missed opportunity as she was quickly broken to love in the next game and allow
the match to return back level. A comfortable hold by Radwanska then allowed
her to level the scores at 5-5 and keep the match wide open. Cibulkova’s woes
continued as she was broken once more to give Radwanska the opportunity to serve
for the match. Radwanska did not disappoint her fans as she served out the
match successfully to win her 5th straight game and escape from the
defeat by a whisker.
Radwanska
|
Cibulkova
|
|
Aces
|
6
|
1
|
DFs
|
1
|
7
|
1st Serve
|
60/101
|
52/95
|
1st Serve Won
|
34/60
|
30/52
|
2nd Serve Won
|
21/41
|
17/43
|
Break Points
|
7/15
|
6/12
|
Points Won
|
103
|
93
|