NEW YORK, NY, USA - Four days ago she was fending off five match points just to get past the second round; now Dominika Cibulkova has made it all the way to the quarterfinals, beating No.11 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in a fourth round surprise on Monday afternoon, 75 76(4).
Playing Kateryna Bondarenko on Friday, Cibulkova found herself at triple match point down serving 3-5, 0-40 third set; she saved all of those and more, two more from 4-6 in the third set tie-break (she scored a 62 57 76(7) win over Bondarenko, who coincidentally made the quarterfinals here last year).
Cibulkova rolled through her third round match and, against Kuznetsova, was rock solid, rallying from 2-4 in the first set and after missing two match points leading 75 53, playing a strong tie-break to close out the Russian.
"I've been working really hard for this. I've had a tough time," Cibulkova said. "I've had some unlucky matches I've lost, and I didn't really have a good run in the tournaments in America before this, so I was really pumped for this. I knew I could make it, that I could beat anybody. I was just waiting for a moment."
"I didn't feel good today. I was very flat," Kuznetsova said after the match. "I was fighting with myself and wasn't doing the things I was supposed to do. Still, it's not an excuse. I still have to win. Doesn't matter how."
This will be Cibulkova's second Grand Slam quarterfinal. She made it to the semifinals of the French Open in 2009, which turned out to be her career-best season, peaking at No.12 in the world in the summer; but it also ended badly, as she missed two months with a right rib injury, a dark stretch that included sitting out the US Open. She is now No.45 - that will obviously change.
"Last year after my first semifinal, I was unlucky afterwards with injuries," Cibulkova said. "I was struggling for half a year, but I'm happy to be back."
Kuznetsova was one of the form players coming in, winning one of the US Open Series events in San Diego, and was a former champion here, winning the title in 2004 (as well as another final in 2007, falling to Justine Henin).
