Madrid: Cibulkova vs. Radwanska
Dominika Cibulkova takes on Agnieszka Radwanska in the first round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Dominika Cibulkova takes on Agnieszka Radwanska in the first round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Irina-Camelia Begu takes on Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
An interview with Simona Halep after her win in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Simona Halep takes on Timea Bacsinszky in the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Dominika Cibulkova takes on Sorana Cirstea in the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Simona Halep takes on Samantha Stosur in the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open.
MADRID, Spain – No.6 seed Simona Halep capped off a dominating week in the Spanish capital, conquering Dominika Cibukova 6-2, 6-4 to claim the Mutua Madrid Open crown and her first title of 2016.
Hear from Madrid champion Halep on WTA Insider: Champions’ Corner.
Madrid holds a special place in the Romanian’s career: it was here in 2013 that she received a wildcard that kick started her ascent into the WTA’s elite. In 2014 Halep returned as a finalist, and this year she led a strong Romanian contingent that made tournament history before she captured her second career Premier Mandatory title.
“I saw always that it’s a special tournament because of Mr. [Ion] Tiriac, because of many Romanians that are coming here. I feel like home,” Halep said.
“You know, it’s a special feeling that many Romanians are coming to support me.I see many flags in the crowd. It means a lot.”
Despite coming into the tournament surrounded by questions about her health and fitness, Halep’s performance in Madrid was nothing short of dominating. She dropped just one set all tournament long, and in the last round she overpowered Sam Stosur 6-2, 6-0 to reach the final against Cibulkova.
Into her third final of the year, No.38-ranked Cibulkova is the lowest ranked player to reach a Premier Mandatory final since 2009, when the WTA Roadmap was introduced. In fact, even though she famously reached the Australian Open final in 2014, Madrid marks the Slovak’s first ever appearance at a Premier Mandatory final.
Halep kept Cibulkova’s fast-paced game contained throughout the match, breaking her in the very first game to start out with an early lead. Despite Cibulkova’s trademark dogged resistance, Halep broke once more at 4-1. Halep weathered three of the Slovak’s break opportunities and went on to close the set at 6-2.
The same pattern unfolded in the second set, with Halep again breaking in the first game. Though Cibulkova raised her level of aggression, she couldn’t keep up with Halep and the Romanian’s deadly forehand, which did the bulk of the damage: Halep hit 11 of her 20 total winners and conceded just two unforced errors out of 10 from that wing.
“I expected a tough match today,” Halep said. “I thought that I would struggle a little bit with her shots, but I was very strong on my legs and could block. I could make my game, I can say.”
With the win Halep will make her return to the WTA Top 5, at No.5, and both Cibulkova and Halep will enter the Road To Singapore Leaderboard’s Top 8.
Cibulkova’s appearance in the final bumps up her ranking to No.26, putting her in perfect position to receive a seed at the French Open.
“I just want to get some rest and prepare for Roland Garros,” Cibulkova reflected after the match. “Because my game on clay really came together. I know what to do.
“I would play bit more aggressive from the beginning. But she was playing really well, so wasn’t like I played bad feels and I have to feel bad.”
That winning feeling. ? #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/NKyQIKPNVj
— WTA (@WTA) May 7, 2016
Simona Halep captured her second career Premier Mandatory title at the Mutua Madrid Open; defeating Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets on Saturday, the win not only brought her back into the Top 5 on the WTA rankings, but also helped her rocket up 23 spots on the Road to Singapore leaderboard, entering th Top 8 for the first time in 2016 at No.6.
Runner-up at the 2014 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, Halep has qualified for the WTA Finals for the last two years, but a slow start to the season kept her out of the Top 8 despite reaching back-to-back quarterfinals in Indian Wells and Miami. The Romanian was ranked No.29 on the Road to Singapore heading into Madrid, but an impressive week in the Caja Magica reversed her fortunes in emphatic style – leaving her just 119 points behind Carla Suárez Navarro, who rounds out an unchanged Top 5 that also features Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, Sunshine Double winner Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska, and World No.1 Serena Williams.
Cibulkova also took a big leap up the Road to Singapore leaderboard, finishing the week just behind Halep at No.7 from No.17. Moving up to No.26 on the WTA rankings, Cibulkova has all but guaranteed a seed at the upcoming French Open, where she is a former semifinalist, and aims to make her WTA Finals debut in 2016. Svetlana Kuznetsova completes the Top 8 despite an early round loss to Porsche Tennis Grand Prix finalist Laura Siegemund, who cracked the RTS Top 20 following another solid week in Spain.
Samantha Stosur made the biggest leap of the week following her run to the semifinals; the 2011 US Open champion made back-to-back semifinals at the WTA Finals in 2010 and 2011 and moved up 25 spots to No.13 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard, defeating Suárez Navarro en route.
RTS Ranking Movers
Louisa Chirico: No.110 to No.33 (+77)
Samantha Stosur: No.38 to No.13 (+25)
Simona Halep: No.29 to No.6 (+23)
Dominika Cibulkova: No.17 to No.7 (+10)
Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza held on to the top spot on the Road to Singapore doubles leaderboard, but the reigning WTA Finals champions find their status is under siege by a pair of streaking Frenchwomen in Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic. Garcia and Mladenovic each qualified for Singapore last fall – Garcia with Katarina Srebotnik, Mladenovic with Timea Babos – and won a third straight title and a 13th straight match in Madrid, backing up their Stuttgart win over Hingis and Mirza with a two-set win in Madrid.
Undefeated on clay in 2016, the French Connection surged up to No.2 on the Road to Singapore doubles leaderboard, putting a nearly 700-point gap between themselves and the No.3 team, Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan.
The Chan sisters suffered a quarterfinal loss to Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva, who saved two match points to reach a second straight WTA semifinal. King and Kudryavtseva have qualified for the WTA Finals a combined three times – King in 2010 and 2011 with Yaroslava Shvedova, Kudryavtseva in 2014 with Anastasia Rodionova – and made the semifinals each time.
Bowing out to Hingis and Mirza in the final four in Madrid, the pair cracked the Top 8 on the Road to Singapore doubles leaderboard, bumping Miami Open champions Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova.
Another Premier 5 tournament is already underway as the Internazionali BNL d’Italia began on Monday; with nearly all of the Top 8 in both singles and doubles in contention – except Agnieszka Radwanska and Chan Hao-Ching – there is bound to be more major shifts ahead of the second major tournament of the season in Paris.
Click here to see the full Road To Singapore leaderboard standings heading into Rome.
Eugenie Bouchard had Wednesday’s shot of the day at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
Garbiñe Muguruza takes on Jelena Ostapenko in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.