Dominika Cibulkova gets a shot at maiden title for the second time in eight days

On October 16th in the final of the Generali Ladies Linz Dominika Cibulkova was playing for her maiden WTA title and lost to Petra Kvitova. Only a week has pasted and the 22-year-old is in another final, at the Premier Kremlin Cup and her opponent will be Estonian Kaia Kanepi.
Cibulkova and Peng Shuai are the only member of the Top 20 without titles, but the little Slovakian is positive about changing her discouraging 0-3 record in career finals:
I know I've lost all three of my previous finals including the one last week, but I feel if I continue playing the way I do now sooner or later I'll win one.
The world No.20 Cibulkova cruised past her semifinal opponent Elena Vesnina 6-0 6-2, a day after ousting top-seeded home favorite Vera Zvonareva 4-6 6-4 6-4. Kanepi upset two Grand Slam champions, Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova, before coming from a set down to topple Lucie Safarova 6-7(4) 6-4 6-3 in the semifinals.
Cibulkova and Kanepi played each other twice so far, including once this year, and Kanepi won in three sets both times. Also, the 43rd-ranked Kanepi, who used to be ranked 16th earlier this year, has one title to her name – Palermo 2010. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)






Ana Ivanovic followed up her 6-2 6-0 victory over Sorana Cirstea in the first round with a 6-3 6-2 triumph over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova at the Generali Ladies Linz. The match will be remembered for an unusual incidenent that happened over a bathroom break – Ivanovic asked to go to the toilet and the umpire gave her the permission to do so, but when she came back to the court she found out she had lost a game because of the time spent away (one point for each 20-second absence, which was summed up to four points, which is one game). It was the second game of the match, Zahlavova Strycova’s service game. Ivanovic was angry at the umpire but it turned out that the umpire’s decision was legitimate as a player should use such a break only before their own serve and not their opponent’s serve.


Belgian Yanina Wickmayer and Czech Petra Kvitova will play for the Generali Ladies Linz title as they upset top seed Flavia Pennetta 7-6(5) 6-3 and second seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 6-2 respectively.
