By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Madison Keys cracked 26 winners powering past Dominika Cibulkova, 6-1, 6-4, to even her WTA Finals record at 1-1.
Photo credit: Getty
The shuffling sound of Madison Keys' feet as she crept forward to crush a second serve return must have sounded as ominous as a runaway steamroller to Dominika Cibulkova.
Mercilessly attacking the Slovak's second serve and hitting her forehand with flat force and facile spin, Keys thrashed Cibulkova, 6-1, 6-4, in Singapore today.
WTA Finals: Kerber Crushes Halep in Singapore
In a match of WTA Finals debutantes, Keys continued her dominance of Cibulkova scoring her fourth win in as many meetings. Keys, who has won seven of eight sets against the world No. 8, evened her round-robin record to 1-1.
"I'm really happy for the win out here tonight," Keys told Andrew Krasny afterward. "I think I just had to take a step back and not rush and know a lot of balls would come back in play. And I think I was prepared for that tonight."
A day after all four women held match point in tight three-set battles, today's matches were much more straight forward. World No. 1 Angelique Kerber used a five-game surge to dismiss Simona Halep, 6-4, 6-2, raising her round-robin record to 2-0.
Though the 5'2" Cibulkova looks like a grinder, she's actually an aggressive baseliner at heart who is at her best straddling the baseline and ripping her forehand into the corners.
The quandary Cibulkova faces in this match-up is the 5'10" Keys is the more explosive player with a wider wingspan who consistently beats the Bratislava-born baseliner at her own game and often has a play on Cibulkova's weaker serve.
Keys torched 26 winners compared to 6 for Cibulkova in the 65-minute dress down.
Cibulkova knows Keys' forehand is one of the most fearsome shots in the sport, but still attacked it on her approach and paid the price. Keys roped a crosscourt forehand pass earning the opening break for 3-1.
The shorter Slovak can't match Keys' power and found herself on the stretch in running rallies. Cranking an inside-out forehand winner, Keys converted her second straight break for 5-1.
On her second set point, Keys crunched a serve winner out wide wrapping up dominant set in which she delivered 16 winners compared to one for her opponent. Keys hit four aces and won 16 of 20 points played on her serve in the 22-minute opener.
The foreboding power of the American's return game spooked Cibulkova into three double faults in the third game. Facing break point, Cibulkova won her first second-serve point of the match scraping through a gritty hold for 2-1.
That was really Cibulkova's last stand.
Fearing the jolting returns that danced at her feet, Cibulkova sputtered with her fourth double fault donating the break and a 3-2 lead.
The explosive Keys can do much more than thunder her serve and thump her forehand.
In a clever exchange that highlighted her feel, Keys slid a low backhand drop shot to drag Cibulkova to net then curled a topspin forehand pass. By then Keys held a massive 23 to 3 advantage in winners and a 5-3 third-set lead.
Credit the scrappy Cibulkova for continuing to fight. She smacked a forehand winner down the line erasing a second match point. On the third, Keys did what she's done throughout this one-sided rivalry: Stretched Cibulkova with the wide served and fired the finishing forehand.
Punctuating the 65-minute thrashing with a firm "Come on!" signified how much Keys' first WTA Finals match win meant to her.
Now, she must gear up for her final round-robin match against world No. 1 Kerber, who has won five of six meetings with Keys, including their most recent match in the Rio Olympics semifinals.