The 45th-ranked Cibulkova, who turned 21 in May, won her first match in more than a month when she blasted wild card Hilary Barte, 6-2, 6-2, in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic on Monday, July 26, 2010 at Stanford University's Taube Tennis Center.
The Fall and Rise of Cibulkova on the WTA Tour
Cibulkova, who has been ranked as high as No. 12, missed four months with a variety of injuries last year, was forced to withdraw from a pair of tournaments in July. She missed the Budapest event because of a bad right shoulder and then withdrew from Prague because of a groin injury.
She returned to the court last week and lost in the first round at Portoroz in Slovenia.
"I didn't know what to expect because I had never seen her play," Cibulkova said of Barte, a senior at Stanford who helped her team win the national championship. "Me and my new coach (Zeljko Krajan, who formerly worked with Dinara Safina) are just getting to know each other but he wants me to be more aggressive."
An Opponent's View From Across the Net
Barte, a left-handed player, gave Cibulkova some problems early on and lost the first four points of the first game.
"Lefty serves are always trouble because they fall differently," Cibulkova said. "After falling behind, I thought 'OK, the match has started. I better do something.'"
Cibulkova has yet to win on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour but does own two ITF Women's Circuit singles titles and has earned more than 1.6 million dollars since turning pro in 2004.
She had a breakout season in 2009, reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, the semifinals of the French Open and the third round of Wimbledon. Then injuries slowed her down the rest of the year and she missed the U.S. Open.
"I'm just starting to work on some things," Cibulkova said. "I need one good run in a tournament to get my confidence back. My health is fine and I'm sure the work I'm doing will show."
Barte, also 21, said Cibulkova was the best she's played against. Still an amateur, Barte was awarded a wildcard into the event because of her connection to Stanford University.
"She's shorter than me but her legs are as large as my body," said the petite Barte. "She's super quick and she uses it to her advantage."
She also agreed with Cibulkova, who said "I'd say I was the more aggressive and experienced player on the court."
Cibulkova will meet either No. 7 seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium or Taipei's Yung-Jan Chan in the second round.
More First Round Scores from the Singles Main Draw
In other first round matches, Ana Ivanovic beat Alisa Kleybanova, 6-3, 6-2; third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska beat Chanelle Scheepers, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3; and Olga Govortsova knocked off Alla Kudryavtesa, 6-1, 6-1.
"It was hard for me out there," Radwanska said. "This was my first match in four weeks, and I was playing on a hard court . The first match is always the tough one and it doesn't matter who is standing on the other side. You have to fight with yourself and try to stay in the match. This was a good test for me and I’m very happy to have won the match."
Radwanska's potential second round opponents are Jill Craybas and Olga Savchuk, while Govortsova would play Maria Sharapova or Jie Zheng. Ivanovic could play defending Bank of the West Classic champion Marion Bartoli or Ashley Harkleroad.
"I started to just focus on the important moments," Radwanska added. "The match was really close, no matter who was serving. It was just game-by-game. I was trying everything and I think she tried everything. At times, I think I tried to do too much. The goal now is to play better as the tournament continues."
Rick Eymer - I have written for The San Mateo Times, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and am currently working part-time as an assistant sports editor at ...
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