Canadian Eugenie Bouchard has fought past third seed Dominika Cibulkova to reach the 2016 Hobart International final.
The former world No.5 showed glimpses of her best as she battled to a 6-1 4-6 6-4 victory in a two-hour semifinal at the Domain Tennis Centre today.
Bouchard hit 32 winners in the match to overpower her third-seeded opponent, who finished with 22 winners.
The first set lasted just 22 minutes. Bouchard played near perfect tennis, conceding just 10 points to the shell-shocked third seed.
“That was a great level for me, I can’t remember the last time I played that well,” Bouchard said.
The momentum changed in the second set, with both players struggling to hold serve.
“She definitely stepped up and started hitting a lot deeper, putting me more on my back foot and there was less I could do,” Bouchard said. “At the same time, I wasn’t as proactive as I was in that first set.”
After eight consecutive breaks, Cibulkova held in the ninth game then broke the Bouchard serve again to level the match. A frustrated Bouchard slammed her racquet into the court and received a code violation.
“I didn’t hold once in the second set which is absolutely disgusting, I was disappointed in myself for that,” Bouchard said.
“I played so well in that first set. I think it was hard to almost keep it up, because I just expected it to keep going easy and you always have to work for it and keep going. It was another lesson I learnt and I definitely want to control my emotions a little bit better as well.”
One break was the difference in a high quality final set, as Bouchard took it to qualify for her first WTA Tour final since September 2014.
Cibulkova was upbeat despite the loss, taking positives from her performance.
“Today was a very high quality of tennis,” Cibulkova said. “It was really about a few points.”
“I have to stay positive and if I play like this, then I can beat the good players.”
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