World No.10 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia won her seventh career title and ensured a place in the elite BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore field by defeating Swiss world No.62 Viktorija Golubic in the final of the Generali Ladies Linz.
The first set went with serve all the way until the eighth game, when the second-seeded Cibulkova converted her fifth break point and followed it up with an impressive and quick service game to straightforwardly win the set 6-3.
The second set started with an early charge of Cibulkova, who broke Golubic’s serve at love to kick start a 3-1 lead, but the Swiss converted her first break point opportunity in the match and leveled to 3-3. Leading 5-4 in the second set, Golubic earned four set points, but Cibulkova saved them all, held serve and confidently broke Golubic in the following game, quickly finishing the match 6-3 7-5.
Even though Golubic gave proper resistance to Cibulkova, it was evident that her ranking is more than 50 spots below her opponent’s. Not even the walkover she received yesterday could give her the edge against the inspired and energetic Slovak.
The list of Cibulkova’s Linz victims includes: Belinda Bencic in the first round, Annika Beck in the second, defending champion and fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarterfinals, fourth seed Carla Suarez Navarro in the semis, and eventually Golubic.
During her run to her third title of the 2016 season, Cibulkova sported the blue Lacoste Fall Racer Dress with mango tree sports bra peeking through the keyhole cutout and the speed-oriented Nike Zoom Vapor 9.5 Tour Shoes in white/volt/pink.
PHOTOS FROM THE 2016 GENERALI LADIES LINZ:
- Thursday: Defining the quarterfinals
- Wednesday: Singapore contenders move on
- Tuesday: First-round play, Bouchard crashes out
- Monday: Qualifying complete, opening of main-draw action, players’ party & hula hoops
- Sunday: Qualifying continues with vetarans Patty Schnyder and Daniela Hantuchova
- Saturday: Qualifying action
