Two days after the victory over Angelique Kerber, Dominika Cibulkova has dropped out in the round of 16 of the US Open. The Slovakian defeated last year’s finalist Madison Keys 1:6, 3:6.
After 75 minutes the dream of the next coup had suddenly burst: Dominika Cibulkova trotted onto the net and had nothing at all in common with this tireless bundle of energy, which had driven Wimbledon winner Angelique Kerber mad in the third round of Flushing Meadows on Saturday.
After losing the first movement, “Domi” had fought back in her inimitable manner and relentlessly exploited Kerber’s passivity. The victory in three rounds was the reward for the courage of Cibulkova, a 1.61-metre-old who had to pay the price for this feat of strength against Keys.
In the duel with Keys seeded at position 14, Cibulkova did not have the slightest chance in the opening set. However, this was also due to the formidable presentation of the US-American, who could rely on her service and made hardly any mistakes. At 2-0 in the second round, everything looked like an express win, but former top ten player Cibulkova (29) fought back and suddenly led 3-2 after three consecutive wins.
But in the 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, Keys, who was coached by Lindsay Davenport, kept her cool and took the following four games to a clear success.
In the end, she had 25 winners (in 15 Unforced Errors). When the first serve came, Keys made the point in 83 percent of the cases – a very strong rate for the 1.78-meter-high right-hander from Boca Raton/Florida.
Last year, Paris semi-finalist Keys had been in the New York final, but had clearly lost to her friend and compatriot Sloane Stephens. Keys will now face either Maria Sharapova of Russia (No 22) or Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain (No 30) in the quarter-finals.
Seven of the top ten players had already been eliminated before the round of 16 – including industry leader Simona Halep (Romania/No. 1) and Australian-Open-Champ Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark/No. 2).