By Alberto Amalfi | Sunday, January 25, 2015

 

Dominika Cibulkova broke serve seven times in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Victoria Azarenka.

Photo credit: corleve

Launching her body into her forehand and hurling fist pumps in the air to fire herself up, Dominika Cibulkova looked like a woman going places even when she wasn't playing points.

Winless in six prior hard-court meetings with Victoria Azarenka, Cibulkova wasn't willing to give up ground in the final set.

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Straddling the baseline, Cibulkova played with energy and clarity reeling off six of the final seven games to wrap up a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory and advance to the Australian Open quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.

The 11th-seeded Slovak will face either world No. 1 Serena Williams or 24th-seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza for a semifinal spot.

Azarenka led in every set, but she heard Cibulkova's fast feet squeaking across the court, saw the Slovak punctuate winners with exuberant fist pumps and felt the 2014 finalist creeping inside the baseline to attack her second serve.

A loss would have knocked the world No. 10 out of the Top 20, but Cibulkova played assertive from the outset. She finished with 44 winners compared to 32 for Azarenka. Changing direction of the ball beautifully, Cibulkova often drilled her forehand down the line in rolling through the opening set in 35 minutes.

Azarenka adjusted by targeting the Slovak's flatter backhand wing in the second set and moving forward more often, winning 12 of 15 trips to net in the second set.

Standing nearly eight inches shorter than her six-foot opponent, Cibulkova does not have a wide wingspan, but she played with elastic ambition in refusing to back off the baseline. In the decisive set, Cibulkova took some of the former world No. 1's best drives on the rise and cracked the ball into the corners.

The Cibulkova forehand was the keystroke in the final set.

Crunching a forehand return winner down the line for her third break point, Cibulkova plastered a backhand winner down the opposite sideline to break back for 1-2. Launching herself into a couple of electric crosscourt forehands, Cibulkova backed up the break for 2-all.

Both women were straddling the baseline as rallies intensified in the seventh game. Finesse isn't high on Cibulkova's priority list, but she pulled the string beautifully on a backhand drop shot winner for a break point then broke on an Azarenka error for 4-3.

The best exchange of the match came in the ensuing game.

A sprinting Cibulkova slid a defensive slice crosscourt to extend the point, Azarenka planted a slice backhand approach on the line and was in position at net when Cibulkova cracked a running forehand pass crosscourt to hold for 5-3. She celebrated the shot screaming "Pome!", Slovakian for "Come on!" and threw a fist pump toward her box.

Azarenka never recovered from the shot. Cibulkova scored her seventh break of the match to seal an impressive two hour, 10-minute conquest.