Cibulkova battles through to beat Cornet

New York - No 2 seed Dominika Cibulkova battled back from a set down on Wednesday against Alizé Cornet to seal the final place in the quarter-finals of the Connecticut Open. 

Down a break twice in the final set, the Slovakian dug deep to pull off a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win after two hours on court. 

Cibulkova will now face No 6 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the last eight after the Russian defeated Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro. 

Pavlyuchenkova was leading 4-1 in the first set, but let it slip before eventually winning through in the tiebreak. 

Boosted by her recovery, she went on to dominate the second set, taking it 6-0 to win the match.

“I fight for every point, I want to win every point and every match so it gets a bit emotional,” Pavlyuchenkova said afterwards. 

“I felt a little bit tired, so I didn’t want to lose the first set for sure.” 

In the other matches, China’s Zhang Shuai continued her good run of form by defeating qualifier Magda Linette of Poland to set up a quarter-final with Elise Mertens of Belgium. 

Kirsten Flipkens was the other winner, beating Romania’s Ana Bogdan 6-1, 7-6(1). She will meet Australia’s Daria Gavrilova in the quarter-finals on Thursday.

Results from WTA tournament at New Haven, Connecticut, on Wednesday:

2nd rd

Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) bt Ana Bogdan (ROM) 6-1, 7-6 (7/1)

Zhang Shuai (CHN) bt Magda Linette (POL) 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x6) bt Carla Surez Navarro (ESP) 7-6 (7/3), 6-0

Dominika Cibulkova (SVK x2) bt Alize Cornet (FRA) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4