Dominika Cibulkova upsets the odds again as she cruises into Australian Open final

23 January 2014

The changing landscape of international tennis will be emphasised by the line-up for the women’s singles final here at the Australian Open on Saturday.

Dominika Cibulkova, an emphatic 6-1, 6-2 winner over Agnieszka Radwanska today, will become the first Slovakian to play in a Grand Slam final, while Li Na, who beat Eugenie Bouchard 6-2, 6-4, will attempt to become the first Asian to win the Melbourne title.

If Li’s success is no great surprise given that the 31-year-old Chinese was runner-up in 2011 and 2013, few would have predicted Cibulkova’s run to the final. The world No24 has been a consistent performer in recent years, reaching the quarter-finals or better at all four Grand Slam events but her previous best performance at one of the majors had been five years ago, when she made the semi-finals at the French Open.

Nevertheless, the victory over Radwanska merely continued Cibulkova’s excellent form over the last fortnight. The 24-year-old reached the last four having spent less time on court than the three other semi-finalists after dropping only one set, when she beat Maria Sharapova in the fourth round.

She dominated Radwanska from the start, needing just 70 minutes to complete her victory.

Cibulkova revealed that her close friend, Marion Bartoli, the Wimbledon champion, had been “a big inspiration”. She explained: “I knew Marion worked so hard for her Wimbledon title. She deserved it so much. When she won Wimbledon I knew everything was possible.”

After knocking out Victoria Azarenka, the defending champion, in the previous round, Radwanska had been the favourite to reach her second Grand Slam final following her achievement in finishing runner-up at Wimbledon two years ago.

Whereas Radwanska had been able to pull Azarenka out of her comfort zone with a mixture of drop shots, lobs and slices, Cibulkova chased down every ball and hit a succession of winners from both flanks.

The Slovakian raced into a 3-0 lead, quickly had the first set under her belt and wasted no time pressing home her advantage in the second.

Cibulkova went 4-0 up and held her nerve after Radwanska reduced her lead to 4-2. “Once I held my serve for 5-2, I knew I was going to win,” said Cibulkova, who broke serve once again to secure her victory.

Radwanska said she had felt the effects of some of her previous efforts, having been taken to three sets in three of her previous matches.

“It felt like slow motion today,” she said. “I wasn’t fresh enough.”

At 5ft 3in Cibulkova is one of the smallest players in the women’s game but she insisted: “It’s not about how tall are you. Even if you are tall, it doesn’t mean that you are 100 per cent going to make it. It’s just you have to really want something and just believe in it. There is nothing more important than this.”

While Cibulkova is in superb form, she has lost all four of her previous meetings with Li (right), who has also been at the top of her game here. The former French Open champion has dropped only one set in reaching the final, when Lucie Safarova had a match point against her in the third round.

Bouchard was only the second Canadian player of either sex to reach a Grand Slam singles semi-final in the Open era but rarely looked capable of going one step further. The 19-year-old was broken to love in her first three service games and had won only three points by the time Li had taken a 5-0 lead.

Li took the first set in 28 minutes with a forehand volley. Although Bouchard opened the second set with an ace and went 2-0 up, order was quickly restored as Li broke back immediately.

The world No4 won six of the last eight games.

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Dominika Cibulkova upsets the odds again as she cruises into Australian Open final

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