Dominika Cibulkova, ‘playing my best tennis’ under WTA Finals pressure, reaches semis

Dominika Cibulkova unexpectedly reached the semi-finals on Thursday at the WTA Finals after Angelique Kerber dominated Madison Keys and helped her through.

Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia celebrates after defeating Simona Halep of Romania. Edgar Su / Reuters / October 27, 2016

Angelique Kerber helped Dominika Cibulkova reach the semi-finals of the WTA Finals on Thursday.

Kerber, who had already advanced from the Red Group, beat Madison Keys 6-3, 6-3 to finish 3-0 in the round robin and eliminate her American opponent. Cibulkova beat Simona Halep 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) earlier in the day, giving her a 1-2 record.

The top-ranked Kerber will be playing in the semi-finals of the season-ending tournament for the first time after failing to advance in three previous attempts. In 2016, the German won the Australian Open and US Open, and reached the final at Wimbledon.

In the match with Keys, half of the 18 games resulted in service breaks. Kerber broke Keys’ serve on six of seven offerings, while Keys took advantage of three of four break points.

Keys and Halep, who had her left knee taped for the match against Cibulkova, also finished the group with 1-2 records. Cibulkova had needed to Kerber to beat Keys in straight sets, otherwise the American would have instead gone through.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, who is 2-0 in the White Group, has already qualified for the semi-finals. The second semi-final spot from that group will be decided Friday when defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska plays Karolina Pliskova.

Garbine Muguruza has already been eliminated from contention.

Cibulkova, beaten in her first two Red Group matches, was unsure whether she would progress or not but gave herself a chance.

“This win is really, really big for me,” Cibulkova said. “I feel relieved. I’m really happy about my win, about the way I played and the way I handled the situation and the pressure.

“It seems like I’m playing my best tennis under the biggest pressure.”

Halep, a runner-up at Singapore’s Indoor Stadium two years ago, made a great start to the tournament with a comfortable win against Keys only to lose her last two matches in straight sets.

She only needed to win one set against Cibulkova to leapfrog the Slovakian in the group standings but bowed out after dropping the first after just 29 minutes, hitting a forehand return over the baseline, then the second in a tiebreak with another return error.

“This tournament was a bonus for me,” said Halep, who made a slow start to the year but won three tour events to climb to fourth in the world rankings.

“I gave it everything I had. I didn’t have enough to qualify in the semis, but it was a good experience again, my third year in a row, so it’s a good thing. I’m not sad that I lost. Of course it’s tough, but nothing changes.”

*Agencies

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