Ekaterina Makarova managed to defeat Dominika Cibulkova in the blockbuster second round match of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, achieving her second successive victory over her Slovakian after their epic at the Australian Open, bringing their head-to-head record to 2-3.
Makarova off to a great start
The Russian received serve to start the match with, and that decision proved to be effective as Cibulkova hit a couple of unforced errors to have a poor start to the match. Nevertheless, a couple of smart and strong serves saved the world number five from the brink of an early deficit as she carved out a tough and narrow hold of service. What followed up was another tight service game as Makarova overcame the rustiness on her serve to get herself onto the scoreboard.
The Russian made the first breakthrough in the match as Cibulkova made four simple errors in her second service game, gifting away the break of serve as Makarova went up the early break. Fending off a break point opportunity in the process, Makarova consolidated the break with yet another nervy service game, extending her lead to two games.
After an exchange of easy holds, it was the Russian who once again made the next breakthrough as she hit a wonderful backhand down the line winner to achieve yet another service break, earning the chance to serve out the first set at 5-2. Some wonderful offensive tennis coupled with her advantageous lefty serve allowed Makarova to hold serve, clinching the first set after just 36 minutes. The first set was a very poor set played by both players despite the scoreline favouring Makarova. Cibulkova hit a total of 18 unforced errors compared to just a mere 3 winners, which was slightly worse than Makarova’s 15 to 9.
Cibulkova fights back
Cibulkova had the best start possible to the second set as she held her serve to love before breaking serve in a very tight game which saw the Slovakian miss four break point opportunities initially. Everything was going wrong for Makarova as she allowed the world number five to hold serve to love once again, affirming her lead at 3-0 and look to close out the second set in a hurry. On the brink of going down a double break and a 0-4 deficit, Makarova showed some nerves of steel to hold serve and give a rise to her chances of closing this out in straight sets.
This tough hold of service definitely proved to be very encouraging for the Russian as she broke back moments later, returning level on serve all of a sudden despite looking down and out previously. Serving to stay in the set, Makarova was unable to deal with the pressure well and gave the second set away with an unfortunate double fault on set point, leveling the match after the 53 minutes set. It was an erratic performance by the Russian in this set, hitting just 11 winners as compared to 20 unforced errors.
Makarova makes a comeback
With the momentum and confidence needed, Cibulkova looked to close out the match and improve her poor three-set record in this year. She certainly looked the favourite for winning the match in three sets as the Slovakian broke serve in her opening return game of the set, hitting a fantastic forehand passing shot on break point to leave Makarova dumbfounded. What happened next was definitely unexpected as the Russian made an immediate reply, breaking straight back to return on serve.
As she managed to halt Cibulkova’s momentum, she took advantage of it and took the lead when she broke serve once more, something no one could have expected when Makarova was down 0-2. Having the chance to break back at 2-3, Cibulkova failed to take her chances well and gave Makarova the hold of service, affirming her lead on the scoreboard.
With the win slowly fading in her sights, Cibulkova failed to put up a tough fight as Makarova placed herself closer to the victory after the Russian broke serve for a 5-2 lead, having the chance to serve out the match. The Russian did just so, successfully serving out the match to love comfortably and sealing up the match in 2 hours and 12 minutes.