By Chris Oddo | Saturday September 1, 2018
Dominika Cibulkova solved Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber to book her spot in the second week for the first time in eight years.
Photo Source: Julian Finney/Getty
Louis Armstrong Stadium has become the U.S. Open’s official graveyard of champions.
All three of 2018’s Grand Slam champions on the women’s side have now fallen on the tournament’s newest showcourt with Angelique Kerber, this year’s Wimbledon champion, the latest to go down.
The German fell in three sets to Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, opening up the lower half of the draw and setting up a round of 16 clash between Cibulkova and Keys. Kerber joins Simona Halep, who fell to Kaia Kanepi in the first round, Caroline Wozniacki, who lost to Lesia Tsurenko in round two and Garbine Muguruza, who fell to Karolina Muchova in round two, in a quartet of former Grand Slam champions to have met their maker on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The matchup against Kerber hasn’t favored the Slovakian in the past—she has lost all four of her previous meetings with Keys—but Cibulkova hopes that her positive experience against Kerber on Day 6 will help propel her forward.
Cibulkova entered Saturday’s contest having lost seven of eight against Kerber, but rallied from a set down to solve a player that had troubled her greatly over the last few seasons.
“I hope it's not going to be the same result against Keys in Singapore,” Cibulkova said. “Never beaten her again, so it's going to be another challenge. Another challenge. I'm going to come up with things to make things different than the matches before. Yeah, I just want to play the way I play right now, and I'm still believing in myself today. If I'm going to play well, I can beat Madison.”
Keys had to work hard to get past the crafty Aleksandra Krunic on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday. The American dropped the opener but lost only three games in the final two sets to claim her spot in the second week.
Keys is aware that Cibulkova will be gunning for her when they meet again on Monday.
“I think she's super feisty,” Keys said. “She never gives up. I think she definitely goes for her shots and is pretty aggressive.”
Teen Vondrousova Makes Milestone
19-year-old Czech is the only woman remaining in the draw, and she cracked a big upset early on Day 6 by knocking off red-hot Kiki Bertens in three sets, 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(1). Bertens, who won Cincinnati and has been playing the best hardcourt tennis of her career, could not deliver her best tennis late in the third set against the World No. 103.
“Yeah, for sure, it's like a dream,” Vondrousova said. “I'm very happy for it.”
The 19-year-old will square off with Lesia Tsurenko in a wide open section of the draw. Tsurenko backed up her upset of Caroline Wozniacki with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Katerina Siniakova.