Courtney Nguyen, Point: Boy, did Simona Halep need this or what? The former World No.2 is into the final of the Mutua Madrid Open for the second time in three years after a solid week that has seen her lose just one set and play her most consistent, top-quality tennis of the year.
The last 17 months have been a time of transition for Halep, who made her breakout in 2013 and 2014 primarily based on her results on clay and grass. Then came an up and down 2015 season, where she crumbled under the pressure of replicating her success at the French Open and Wimbledon, but notched her best results on hardcourts. This year has seen her battle her body, racing the clock be fit and healthy enough not just to play tournaments but to put in the heavy training blocks she needed with coach Darren Cahill to find that confidence and consistency.
When I sat down with Halep before the tournament, it was clear there was an air of trepidation surrounding her game. After making back-to-back quarterfinals at Indian Wells and Miami, Halep endured a stressful week at Fed Cup and then was bundled out in her opening round in Stuttgart. It seems every time she got some momentum, a loss or injury or illness derailed things. Which is why she approached Madrid with caution.
Her goal this week was matches. Winning the title wasn’t even close to being on her mind. Not without a proper lead-up or any competitive indication that she was back to her best.
But with each win, Halep has regained her swagger. She lost just five games total in her first two matches, but it was her 6-2, 6-3 win over Timea Bacsinszky that may have quieted the demons. It was just a few weeks ago that Halep let a lead slip to Bacsinszky in the Miami Open quarterfinals. This week she got her clean revenge and her best win of the season. A win on Saturday would move her back to No.5.
“I’m more relaxed,” Halep said. “I think this is the key, and that’s why I repeat and say always, because this makes me more confident. It’s easier for me to play my game if I am relaxed.”
Setting aside her odd bagel set at the ends of her countrywoman Irina Camelia Begu – Halep said Begu’s player’s box was constantly coaching and their vocality got under her skin – Halep hasn’t come close to losing a set this week. Against Samantha Stosur in the semifinals, she withstood a barrage of forehands to run away with the match, taking the last 11 games to win 6-2, 6-0. Again, it wasn’t about the win itself. It was about the performance. And this was a near flawless one.
“I expect a tough one as well because is the final, and always the last match of the tournament is difficult,” Halep said. “But I have experience. I feel ready to play. She plays fast. She hits the balls.
“So, yeah, I know her pretty well. I beat her; she beat me. It’s an open match. Everyone can win. But I will do everything to win it. I really want it. It’s my dream to win here. We will see tomorrow.”
David Kane, Counterpoint: Dominika Cibulkova has made a career out of being one of the most dangerous floaters in tennis. A Top 10 player and former Grand Slam finalist in her own right, the Slovak will likely be best remembered as the woman no top seed wanted to encounter in the first week of a major tournament. So notorious is the 5’3″ powerhouse for causing big upsets that it was all but assumed that she would pull off the expectedly unexpected against Agnieszka Radwanska in Indian Wells and Garbiñe Muguruza in Miami. She would hold a match point against the former and lead the latter by a break in the final set, but left the Sunshine Swing without a win over either.
Sent back to the drawing board, Cibulkova opted to play one last hardcourt tournament before switching to clay, the surface on which she had her major breakthrough at the 2009 French Open.
“Katowice helped me quite a lot,” she said after her quarterfinal win over Sorana Cirstea. “Actually, I didn’t want to go there, but when I lost in the second round of Miami to Muguruza, I sat down with my coach and said, ‘I’m playing well; let’s just go there and play matches.'”
Playing five matches at the Katowice Open, Cibulkova won her first title in over two years, losing just one set en route. In good form heading into Madrid, she quickly earned another chance for the early round upset; weathering a second set hiccup, she got the job done against Radwanska in the first round.
“This year, I played so many matches and was getting good results on the International level, so I was waiting for this. I’m really happy it came here because in Indian Wells and Miami, I lost really close matches to Radwanska and Muguruza. I was waiting for the moment when it was going to turn around.”
Battling through a trio of tough matches to reach the semifinals, she passed what was perhaps her biggest test in the semifinals. Playing American qualifier Louisa Chirico, Cibulkova rose to the challenge of being the favorite and ended the underdog’s run in merciless fashion, dropping two games to reach her first career Premier Mandatory final.
“I was really, really happy, because today’s match was not easy,” she told press on Friday. “I made it look easy.
“I needed a win like this. When I came off the court my coach told me, ‘Oh, this reminds me of your matches of Australian Open when you went to the finals.'”
Underdog to start the event, favorite by the semifinals, she heads into the championship match as a little of both against Simona Halep – the 2014 runner-up but a player whom Cibulkova has beaten in three of their four previous encounters. Should she continue to handle the pressure, she could well end up turning her career narrative on its head, and go from chasing the pack to leading it.
Hear more thoughts on the Mutua Madrid final in the latest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
