WTA Tour - Safina to face Cibulkova in Montreal

Eurosport - Sun, 03 Aug 20:38:00 2008

Russian Dinara Safina battled to a 6-0 2-6 6-3 win over Victoria Azarenka to reach the final of the Montreal Cup.

TENNIS dinara safina russia - 0

Seventh seeded Safina, bidding for back-to-back titles after winning in Los Angeles last week, will meet Dominika Cibulkova in Sunday's final after the unseeded Slovakian rallied past 10th seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 4-6 6-4 6-3.

After a three-hour rain delay, Safina raced through the opening set in just 22 minutes and was 1-0 up in the second before her Belarusian opponent started firing back.

Azarenka swept through the next four games to surge ahead 4-1 on her way to levelling the match.

However, the momentum swung back in favour of Safina in the third, the 22-year-old Russian breaking in the fourth and sixth games to seize control 5-1.

After another slight wobble, Safina, who reached her fifth final in six events, steadied herself to close out the contest with an ace.

"I just slowed down a little bit and let her play more aggressive, it was my mistake to let her back into the match," Safina said.

"I just said to myself if I want to stay in the tournament you have to push yourself harder and be more aggressive and that's what I did and I'm happy I could turn the third set around."

Cibulkova, who will be bidding for her first WTA career title against Safina, was also made to work a little overtime after her semi-final was hit by two rain delays and took more than seven hours to complete.

After taking the first set 6-4 and leading 2-1 in the second when rain swept across Montreal, Bartoli took a nap during one delay and never appeared fully awake when the match resumed as 19-year-old Slovak took the next two sets.

"It really helped me that it started to rain because I went to the locker room and I talked to my coach. It wasn't easy to talk to him because he was really mad," said Cibulkova.

"Winning my first title is really very far yet. It's still one match. You know, I'm so excited about this, about my game, that I'm in the final of a Tier I for my first time."

Reuters

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  1. Bravo Safina! This (if she wins) would be her 3rd trophy this year? Way to go!

    From masaivkovic, on Sun 3 Aug 1:21PM

  2. Yup I think Safina will outrank both Serbs very soon.

    From Bravecat, on Sun 3 Aug 11:30AM

  3. Safina is slowly but surely going for number one !
    When everyone's eyes are on Jelena and Anna, the real contender is Safina, no doubt about it (barring injury).
    Her tennis is un-assuming and purposefull. She means business.

    From Oya Atilla Akdoğan, on Sun 3 Aug 9:53AM
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