Tennis Frontier

Tag: Klara Zakopalova

  • Cibulkova Overcomes McHale in Acapulco

    Cibulkova Overcomes McHale in Acapulco

    Dominika Cibulkova

    Top-seeded Dominika Cibulkova won the Abierto Telcel Mexicano over Christina McHale of the US, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4. This was Cibulkova’s fourth career title.  She was the runner-up in this year’s Australian Open to eventual winner, Li Na.

    Her opponent, Christina McHale, was the surprise finalist. The #70 ranked 21-year-old American made a strong showing in her first WTA final. She has a career-high ranking of 24, and will surely see her ranking go up after this tournament.

    Acapulco, a combined women’s and men’s event, saw a surface change this year. After 20 years as a clay court tournament, it was contested for the first time this year on hard courts. This makes it a good tune-up event to Indian Wells, also a co-ed event, and one of the premier events on both tours. The surface change for Acapulco has been seen as a boon for the event.

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    In other WTA news, Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic won her third WTA singles title by defeating Garbine Muguruza of Spain 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 in the Brazil Cup final on Saturday. The Spaniard was leading 6-4, 5-2 and serving for the match when her game fell apart. The 32-year-old Zakopalova won 11 straight games to close out the match.

    Zakopalova was playing in her third final this year, with only her first win since 2005.
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    Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): NAPARAZZI

  • Nadal Wins Inaugural Rio Open 500

    Nadal Wins Inaugural Rio Open 500

    Rafael Nadal

    Everything old is new again. As Rio de Janeiro brings ATP 500 tennis back to the Carioca city, Rafael Nadal defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine, 6-3, 7-6(3) in the inaugural Rio Open. The old was Nadal winning on clay. The new was the tournament, and the renewed play by Dolgopolov of the Ukraine, who has been a rising star, though with troubles along the way.

    The Ukrainian upset David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro to get to the final. His quirky style of play may have been recently served by joining forces with another “eccentric” player, Fabrice Santoro, the Frenchman who is also known as “The Magician.”  It seems a coaching choice made in heaven. A Kiev native, Dolgopolov wore a black ribbon on his chest, and spoke in his final remarks of the struggles of the people in his country, to sustained applause. Brazil has also suffered unrest in recent months.

    For Nadal, it was his 62nd title, his 43rd on clay. After a huge battle with Pablo Andujar in the semifinals yesterday, it was not completely clear that Nadal would win today. But some things never change. Nadal wins again on clay, but Dolgopolov comes out of it with renewed encouragement.

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    In the women’s final, Kurumi Nara defeated the No. 1 seed, Klara Zakopalova, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.  It was the first WTA title for the 22-year-old Japanese player.

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    Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Marianne Bevis