Cibulkova d. Wozniacki 1-6, 7-6, 7-5
I make no secret of my love for diminutive firecrackers – its one of many weaknesses.
This was supposed to be the worst possible match up for her – Caro’s dogged resilience in eliciting errors from her opponents by getting them to play that dreaded “one more ball”, is supposed to be anthema to someone as reckless as Domi.
But somehow, it didn’t turn out that way. She was still as reckless as hell, but seemed to be less insistent on hitting the lines on every single shot, opting instead for a more measured (but equally aggressive) ball sent some 80% up the court.
I don’t know if that was a conscious decision (maybe something Zeljko introduced), but it worked a treat. It allowed her to construct rallies on her terms instead of simply going for broke on everything – that’s not something you normally see from her.
As for Caro, she was said to have turned up to her presser “beet red”, and went on to castigate herself for “not making more of her break point opportunities”. I hope that means she’s sensed a need to grow beyond being content merely eliciting errors (funny as it may sound, I actually want to see her improve) – it’s pretty frightening if it means anything else.
Besides, Domi won’t be the last player to call that particular bluff – Julia’s already done so twice in the last two months.
Posts
