Slovakian world No. 6 Dominika Cibulkova dropped just two games in blistering heat to win her opening match at the Apia International in Sydney, Australia, yesterday.
The diminutive Cibulkova, who upset world No. 1 Angelique Kerber to win the WTA Finals in Singapore in October last year, swept past German world No. 31 Laura Siegemund 6-2, 6-0.
Cibulkova, who lost to China’s Li Na in the 2014 Australian Open final, next plays Canadian wild-card Eugenie Bouchard in the second round.
Photo: EPA
“When you start a season, you always start with some confidence, not doubt, but you always need to get into this match rhythm,” Cibulkova said. “It’s not easy if I would expect myself to play like I did in the [WTA] Final against Kerber, I think that would be too much expectation. This is the time of the year when you just have to warm up yourself in the matches.”
Cibulkova, who lost to Agnieszka Radwanska in the Sydney final four years ago, was knocked out in the quarter-finals of last week’s Brisbane International by France’s Alize Cornet in straight sets.
Kerber and Radwanska, the top two seeds, have a bye into the second round in Sydney.
Former world No. 1 and seventh seed Caroline Wozniacki dumped Olympic champion and last year’s finalist Monica Puig out of the tournament 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Puig, who lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in last year’s final, created 12 break points, but could only convert three, while Wozniacki put away three of four.
British sixth seed Johanna Konta was too strong for Australia’s Arina Rodionova, winning 6-3, 6-4, while fellow Australian Sam Stosur again bombed out in the first round, going out 6-3, 6-1 to Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
“It was tough conditions out there. I don’t really know what to say,” said Stosur, who has not won a match in almost five months. “I don’t feel like I played bad. I don’t feel like I played obviously as well as I can. It was just kind of done and that was it.”
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