Cibulkova beats Cornet, in quarters

Connecticut (USA), August 24 

Second seed Dominika Cibulkova came back from a set down to oust Alize Cornet and grab the last spot in the Connecticut Open quarterfinals. She came back from a break down twice in the final set to win 2-6 6-2 6-4 in a two-hour battle. 

After too many unforced errors cost her the opening set against Cornet, a determined Cibulkova righted the ship in the second and third. The Frenchwoman’s untimely double faults gave Cibulkova an early break — Cornet hit two in one game early on — and Cibulkova took advantage to reel off five games in a row and take the second set.

Cibulkova found herself locked into a tug of war as she had to come back from a break down twice — the second time with Cornet up 4-2 and closing in on the finish line. But Cibulkova found her best tennis to take the last four games in a row and book her spot into the quarterfinals.

Cibulkova will take on 

sixth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a spot in the semifinals after the Russian defeated Carla Suarez Navarro 7-6(3) 6-0 earlier in the day. Belguim’s Kirsten Flipkens set up a quarterfinal against Australia’s Daria Gavrilova, beating Romania’s Ana Bogdan 6-1 7-6(1). 

China’s Zhang Shuai beat Poland’s Magda Linette 6-3 6-7(4) 6-3. She will face Belgium’s Elise Mertens next.

In the other quarterfinal, top seed and defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland will play eighth seed Shuai Peng of China. — Agencies