Dominika Cibulkova overcame Karolina Pliskova 7-5 6-3 to secure her first career title on grass at Devonshire Park as both players struggled with the windy conditions early on.

Cibulkova managed to neutralised Pliskova’s serve, which was a powerful weapon in her semi-final win over British women’s number one Johanna Konta. In the defeat of Konta, Pliskova managed to hit 12 aces but instead only managed four in the final. Cibulkova’s focus and movement around the court proved pivotal in the victory.  The wind caused a problem for both player as it caused six breaks of serve in the opening eight games. However it was Pliskova’s failure to take the first set tie-breka at 6-5 down, as she served, that was decisive.

The win for the Slovakian 12th seed meant that she has picked up two trophies since April, after winning in Katowice. This will bring her world ranking back to 19th as she looks to comeback from an injury plagued 2015. On the other hand Pliskova has been in menacing form on grass as she claimed a title in Nottingham a couple of weeks before.

Pliskova expresses joy

Speaking after her win the Slovak expressed her elation at her first title on grass claiming it is her “best week ever” on the surface and so obviously it “it a very happy time” for her.  She continued to add that it “has been such a great week” for her and that she hopes to “be back for many more years”. She added that before the tournament having noticed that Martina Navratilova had one it 11 times “it would be good to win it once”.

The 19th seed at Wimbledon has expressed her confidence ahead of the tournament as she looked to “play as many matches as [she] could before Wimbledon” and thankfully she is now “feeling good on the surface”.

Cibulkova will face Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the first round of the tournament while Pliskova will face Yanina Wickmayer.

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