Vika was already a couple of points away to be upset in the first round by Alberta Brianti and that was a clear sign that something was going wrong in her mind.
This time the Belarus was facing a player that was about to beat her 2 times in the last year. The match was one way traffic till the moment Cibulkova was leading 6-2 4-2. Then as per the previous 2 encounters, Cibulkova got tight to allow the match to go to the tiebreak. From that moment, the Slovak became a lioness to fiercely fight for every point with gutsy shots and finally defeat Vika. At the end of the match the world no.1 looked quite depressed and when it was asked what ent wrong she replied “Pretty much everything,”
Azarenka will lose her nr. spot in the WTA ranking if Maria Sharapova reach the final at the Roland Garros.
On the other side a jubilant Cibulkova commented “This year in Miami I was 6-1, 5-2 up against her,” she said, “And last year in Miami it was the same. I think I was 6-2, 4-2 up, and again I lost. So today I was 4-2 up in the second set and that’s why I got a little bit…, not nervous, but not going for my shots any more. But it was a great thing I managed to get through these emotions. She was 6-5 up and I said, ‘Hey, come on, you have to play your game again and just make it’.”
Cibulkova will face Sam Stosur in the quarters. Head to Head 1-0 for Stosur on the hard court in Stanford in 2009.
In the other matches Errani had an solid straight sets win against Kuznetsova 6-0 7-5. Kerber defeated Petra Martic 6-3 7-5 (the Croat is a great player) and Stosur defeated Stephens 7-5 6-4
