Dominika Cibulkova beat top-seeded Marion Bartoli 6-1, 7-5 on Sunday to win the WTA Carlsbad crown, warming up for the London Olympics with her second career title.
The second seed from Slovakia needed 95 minutes to overcome her fatigued French opponent, whose sixth double fault of the contest gave Cibulkova three match points.
Cibulkova needed only one, falling on her back in joy after converting it.
“Today I played well all through the match,” said Cibulkova, who added the title to the trophy she won in Moscow last year. “In the past finals I was nervous. This was the first one where I just went for it — everything went my way.”
“I’ve changed my coach recently, and I’m more relaxed on the court. It’s all working out really well for me,” said the 23-year-old, who will represent Slovakia at the London Games in both singles and doubles.
Bartoli ran out of steam after a long week on court that included a series of three-set matches as she struggled with a sore hip.
By the time they reached the final, world No. 10 Bartoli had spent a total of four more hours on court than Cibulkova.
Cibulkova, who was slated to rise one place to 13th in the world when the rankings were released yesterday, was playing in her second final of the season, after losing in the title match in Barcelona.
The Slovak broke Bartoli three times in the first set, Bartoli making it easier with a double fault on set point.
Bartoli turned the tables with two service breaks for a 4-1 lead in the second, but the Slovak responded by winning four straight games.
“I fought for every ball and didn’t give up on the important points,” she said. “I really fought for it. My tactic was to move her around, make her move and go for my returns.”
Cibulkova broke Bartoli for a second time in the set to knot the score at 4-4, winning 13 of 16 points during that surge.
Cibulkova then broke Bartoli one last time to seal the match in which she won six of the last seven games.
“I lost, but Dominika played a great match,” said Bartoli, who won’t be playing at the Olympics due to a long-running dispute with French tennis officials over the continuing presence of her father, Walter, as her only coach.
“I wish her good luck at the Olympics,” Bartoli said. “I fought hard in my previous matches, today I just came up a bit short.”
Bartoli was playing her first day match after winning three tough ones at night and said the change made a difference to her game.
“Dominika played all her matches during the day, she was maybe more used to it, especially in that first set,” Bartoli said. “I played well to get the lead in the second, but from this point I started to feel a bit tired and not moving so quickly as I wanted. But she played very fast and extremely well, so she made me feel uncomfortable.”
“I always want to win, so obviously I’m disappointed because I was not able to do it,” she said.
“I really wanted to head back to Europe with a good week, a good strong week that I would be able to build on before Canada and Cincinnati,” added Bartoli, who will return to the hard courts of North America at those venues next month.
SWEDISH OPEN
AFP, BASTAD, Sweden
Slovenia’s Polona Hercog rallied from a set down to defeat French hope Mathilde Johansson and successfully defend her title at the Swedish Open in Bastad on Sunday.
Sweden-born Johansson had been hoping to lift her first title in the country of her birth, but despite a bright start, she fell 0-6, 6-4, 7-5 to 21-year-old Hercog, ranked three places below her at world No. 86.
Hercog overcame early nerves to win the first four games of the second set and held on for a second career title after winning on her debut in Bastad last year.
Johansson lacked consistency, twice losing games where she lead 0-40 in the second and third sets, and she gifted Hercog a 4-1 lead in the final set by double-faulting.
The French player fought back to make it 5-5, but then immediately dropped her serve, and the accumulation of unforced errors was ultimately to cost her a maiden title.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS