Day 5 at RG16: Cibulkova, Almagro and Thiem
Dominika Cibulkova defeats Ana Konjuh 6-4 3-6 6-0
Back to Roland Garros today and I’m back on court 17 to watch a match that looks exciting … on paper.
A former junior number one, Ana Konjuh was touted as a future top ten player. Aged 18, she won her first WTA tournament in Nottingham last year. As for Dominika Cibulkova, semifinalist here in 2009, she had a good clay-court season, with a final in Madrid.
Lots of unforced errors from both players. Not a really enjoyable match.
Cibulkova can’t stay still for a second. For her gruntings for first point on are really annoying.
Nicolas Almagro defeats Jiri Vesely 6-4 6-4 6-3
Almagro, winner in Estoril vs Vesely, who defeated Djokovic in Monte Carlo. Almagro is off to a quick start and leads by a double break, but he wastes several set points and Vesely breaks back. But as a clay-court specialist, Almagro dominates and wins in straight sets.
A glimpse at Lisicki/Petkovic vs Gibbs/Watson, the German duo won in straight sets. The officials clearly should have moved the match to a bigger court.
Stepanek/Zimonjic defeat Lajovic/Thiem 6-3 6-2
Court 16 is packed for the doubles match between Stepanek/Zimonjic and Lajovic/Thiem. The pair of veterans gave a doubles tennis lesson to their (much) younger opponents. When Zimonjic turned pro in 1995 , Thiem was only 2 years old!
If you don’t get to see top players on the main courts, you might have the opportunity to watch them play doubles on the outside courts: Simon Halep or Martina Hingis for example but also Kyrgios and Zverev who played doubles together here.
Cibulkova/Flipkens defeat Georges/Lim 6-2 6-3
From my seat, I couldn’t hear the score nor see the scoreboard, so it was a bit difficult to follow the match but it was obvious that Cibulkova and Flipkens were much better individually and as a team.
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