Radwanska captures Sydney title as Cibulkova melts away
Agnieszka Radwanska capped perfect two weeks with a 6-0 6-0 thrashing of Dominika Cibulkova in the final of the Apia International Sydney. The Slovakian, always hot or cold, finished the wonderful week that featured victories over Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and seeds No.2 and No.3 Angelique Kerber and Sara Errani with an embarrassing double-bagel loss to the in-form top seed. The last time we had a 6-0 6-0 score in a WTA final was more than six years ago, at the 2006 Quebec City, when Marion Bartoli defeated Olga Puchkova.
The Sydney final started with Radwanska’s double fault and ended with Cibulkova’s double fault. Cibulkova couldn’t keep a ball in court and recorded a 15-36 winners-unforced errors differential to Radwanska’s 7-8.
Radwanska has now taken 18 straight sets, which include titles in Auckland and Sydney, and extended her record to 4-0 in WTA finals where she was the top seed. Moreover, Radwanska has now won eight of her last nine finals at non-majors. A big thank you to Chris Skelton and his amazing Twitter account for these unique stats!
En route to her 12th career title, Radwanska defeated Kimiko Date-Krumm in the second round, Roberta Vinci in the quarterfinals, fourth seed Li Na in the semis and rounded off the tournament by demolishing Cibulkova. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)
Agnieszka Radwanska and Li Na both entered the Premier-level Sydney semifinal with perfect win-loss records this season, owing to their title runs in Auckland (Radwanska) and inaugural Shenzhen (Li), but the higher-ranked Pole spoiled Li's undefeated run, even though it was Li who had led their head-to-head 5-3, including 3-1 last season.







