Kerber outlasts Cibulkova in WTA Finals opener
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[October 24, 2016]
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Angelique
Kerber was forced to dig deep in her WTA Finals opener before the
German world number one battled past Dominika Cibulkova 7-6(5) 2-6
6-3 in a high-class baseline slugfest at the Singapore Indoor
Stadium on Sunday.
Earlier, Simona Halep got her campaign off to a perfect start when
the Romanian world number four dominated an erratic Madison Keys to
kick off round-robin play in the elite eight-woman, season-ending
event with a 6-2 6-4 victory.
First-time finalist Cibulkova opened with a double fault and Kerber,
who won two grand slam titles in 2016, took advantage of her
opponent's nervy start to grab an immediate break without having to
do much more than get the ball over the net.
By contrast, the German found her rhythm right away as she located
the corners with ease and used her brilliant retrieving skills to
make Cibulkova always play an extra shot when it appeared the point
had already been won.
The Slovakian, who won her third title of the year in Linz earlier
this month, slowly worked her way back into the set with her
high-intensity game and pressured Kerber enough to make her cough up
two double faults to tie things up at 4-4.
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The pair were now slugging it out on the baseline and after both
held serve through to a tiebreaker, Kerber kept her nerve in the
face of some tremendous pressure to edge ahead in the thrilling
encounter.
Undeterred, Cibulkova made a fast start to the second set as Kerber
wavered, breaking her opponent twice in a row to race into a 4-0
lead and, while the German threatened to mount a comeback, the
seventh seed drew level with a forehand winner.
DOMINANT HALEP
With exhaustion kicking in and the points growing shorter, Kerber
recovered after suffering an early break and showed the class
befitting the world's top-ranked player to reel off four straight
games on her way to a hard-fought victory.
"I was trying to stay focused in the third set, trying to play my
game and be aggressive. That was my plan and it worked well... it
was a really close and really tough match," Kerber said.
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![](../images/102416pics/sports67.jpg)
Angelique Kerber of Germany celebrates a point against Dominika
Cibulkova of Slovakia. REUTERS/Edgar Su
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In the opening Red Group match, diminutive Romanian Halep drew first
blood in the third game, putting pressure on Keys's backhand side
with pinpoint accuracy and converting her fourth break point when
the American plonked a weak drive into the net.
Buoyed up by the early breakthrough, Halep went for the kill and
rattled off the next 11 points on her way to a decisive 5-1 lead as
Keys's game unraveled, riddled with unforced errors.
Keys, on her first visit to Singapore, continued to mix winners with
mistakes and, after trading breaks midway through the second set, a
fired-up Halep broke again in the ninth game before serving out the
contest in a little more than an hour.
"It's always the same with Madison... she's very strong and hits the
ball hard so it's tough to match her power," said Halep. "So I have
to adjust, be strong with my legs and make the most of my chances."
Defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska opens her campaign against
Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova on Monday with Garbine Muguruza and
Karolina Pliskova completing the White Group.
(Editing by Nick Mulvenney and Clare Fallon)
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