Dominika Cibulkova on Friday reached the Eastbourne International final after dispatching Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig 6-2, 6-1.
The Slovak is to play Karolina Pliskova for the title after the Czech defeated Britain’s Johanna Konta 6-7 (7/5), 6-3, 6-3.
Cibulkova always held the upper hand, holding two break points for a 2-0 lead before breaking for 4-2, and again for the set. A further break for 2-0 in the second set put her firmly on the way to a comfortable victory.
Photo: Reuters
“From the first match I was playing really, really good,” Cibulkova said. “I just kept going. I also had no expectations.”
Pliskova will be seeking her second grass-court title in three weeks after lifting the Nottingham trophy.
Neither player faced a break point in the opening set before Konta claimed the tiebreaker.
Photo: Reuters
Pliskova then broke for 3-1 in the second set, followed by Konta falling while holding three break points in the next game.
Although Konta continued without any apparent ill effects, she failed to break serve and also failed to convert a further two break points in the ninth game.
Pliskova then broke serve twice to lead 3-0 in the final set on the way to ending Konta’s hopes of becoming the first British finalist at the event since Virginia Wade 40 years ago.
Earlier, Cibulkova defeated top seed and former champion Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 in a quarter-final that took more than three hours to complete over two days.
Play resumed after overnight rain with Radwanska leading 3-2 in the second set, but Cibulkova immediately broke to level, and after Radwanska failed to convert a break point to lead 5-4, Cibulkova dominated the tiebreaker.
Radwanska again failed to take advantage of her opportunities in the final set, letting two break points for a 3-1 lead slip away before Cibulkova swept the last four games.
“I don’t think I was playing good enough today,” Radwanska said. “She was playing really aggressive, good tennis.”
Pliskova resumed after an overnight break at 4-0 in the opening set, and the Czech went on to overwhelm former champion Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-1, 6-3.
Britain’s Konta also overcame a Russian former champion, defeating Ekaterina Makarova 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
AEGON NOTTINGHAM
AP, NOTTINGHAM, England
Pablo Cuevas on Friday reached the first grass-court final of his career after beating Gilles Muller in three sets at the Aegon Nottingham Open.
Before this week, the Uruguayan had two match wins on grass in his 12-year career. This week he has won four after beating Muller 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 in the semi-finals.
Cuevas is eyeing a sixth career title against Andreas Seppi of Italy or Steve Johnson of the US.
“I’m so happy to reach my first final on grass,” Cuevas said. “I have played every match with more confidence and today I beat an excellent player on grass. Hopefully tomorrow I will enjoy it, too.”
Cuevas has had to rally all week: He was a set down in the second round, saved a match point against Marcos Baghdatis in the quarter-finals and trailed Muller by a set and 4-4. Muller had three break chances, but Cuevas saved them all.
Muller hit 19 aces through the first two sets, but in the tiebreaker, trailing 6-3, he hit a double-fault to concede the second set.
The third set stayed on serve until the fifth game, when Muller was broken for the first time in the match, and smashed his racket in frustration.
Earlier, Johnson quickly finished off his quarter-final with top-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa, who led 4-3 in the third set when darkness forced a suspension on Thursday.
Johnson swept the last three games to complete a 7-6 (8/6), 5-7, 6-4 win.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier