2014 Aussie Open QF: Halep vs. Cibulkova

[Si Si Simona]

This was a very fast match...what 60 mins? I expect Halep to do better in upcoming Slams now that she has a feel for the big stage

Simo was totally outplayed today. This match will haunt her not because she lost but the way she lost. It will damage her psychic but she will bounce back. Domi played a good game today.
Thank god we have clay courts..

 

[Si Si Simona]

Now that was a beat down. Nicely done DC.

9 winners to 25 UFEs for poor Halep :nono Definitely good to see a new player in the top 10 though and she's still very young and constantly improving. Looks like a bad match up of styles there tbh.

Simo wasn't ready for the fight. I think she was too confident and didn't expect the tough opposition. Who can blame her after all her recent success.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Not even a little surprised to see this result. Cibulkova has been phenomenal so far. I haven't even seen her play a match and I'm terribly sad out that. Her early match scorelines made me wonder if she could pull off the upset against Sharapova. After she did it doesn't surprise me a bit that she crushed Halep, who seems underrated... but may actually be overrated. I don't know. I mean, she won 6 titles last year. It's hard to overrate someone like that. Yes, they were all smaller events, but no one else won 6 smaller events. But at the same time, there really are just a lot of people out there who can beat her. She's a solid player. But, definitely not unbeatable. And I don't really think she's top 5 material either. At least not while Serena, Vika, Maria, Li, and Kvitova are around. Consistent? Sure. Perhaps one could call her the new Wozniacki, though, not quite as good because Wozniacki was winning titles like IW or Miami (I can't remember which one she won). Anyways, enough about her. Back to Cibulkova, who is basically the complete opposite. She's very inconsistent. Consistent enough to stay in the top 30 and 20. But she doesn't win too many titles. And while she doesn't have the power or raw talent of Azarenka or Serena, partially because she's only 5'3". But, we've seen her nearly beat Serena. Now Maria, for a third time. They hadn't played since 2011. And she has two wins over Azarenka, though they were both on clay. But, one of those wins was their most recent match, at last year's French Open. I guess I've always sort of been a slight fan of hers. So I'm definitely glad to see her come through, even if she did have to beat Maria to do it. I wouldn't be too surprised to see her beat Azarenka, though I think Azarenka would most likely take it, this being a hard court, on which she's won 6 of her 7 wins over Cibulkova. BUT, that is IF Azarenka finds a way out of this match she's currently losing to Radwanska, which I find quite surprising. The way Vika has dominated her for so long I didn't see that coming to an end any time soon.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Of course, Cibulkova is only 1-5 against Radwanksa. Her one win coming last year in a three set match in the final of Stanford. But that win came 6 months or so after being double bagelled in the final of Sydney last year. Radwanska has beaten her once since then, in straights, in Tokyo at the end of last year. Playing so well, I could definitely see Cibulkova win it. But I could definitely see Radwanska take it to, especially the way she's playing against Azarenka. It could be a great semifinal.

 

[herios]

I was hoping for a whole lot more from Simona in this match, have not seen the match, but probably better that I did not.

 

[Si Si Simona]

I was hoping for a whole lot more from Simona in this match, have not seen the match, but probably better that I did not.

I woke up from my sleep to see the match when score was 3-1 and after 5 minutes I knew that Simona will lose today! I know her too well. Her body language and the baseline strokes exchanges gave her no hope. I knew she is done for the day even when she made it 4-3 back on serve.
I think I could continue sleeping and feel the match without watching it while sleeping That's how good I think I can feel Simona's head.
That's why I didn't predict here the winner. My tennis instinct told me that something bad will happen.

Anyways she already beat 4 of the top 9 players of the world and has the future in front of her including a revenge on Domi