NEW YORK—Under cover tennis arrived with a bang.
In the first match ever played under the retractable roof in progress at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Dominika Cibulkova did some major deconstruction.
The feisty, 5-foot-2 Slovak downsized seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic by the symmetrical score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, opening this US Open with a declarative statement.
“I’m just happy I had the chance to play first match on Ashe today. It was extra energy, extra motivation, and it was just a great match,” Cibulkova said in her post-match press conference. “She’s a great player. But then I knew I’m better on the court today. I just have to be still active and I just have to go for my shots. I was also really strong mentally today. The scores, I was 4-2 up, 15-40 on my serve, and these are the points that makes the difference against such a player.”
A year after she was a major victim of 15-year-old American wild card CiCi Bellis in round one, Cibulkova returned with a major victory.
“In New Haven, I started to get my game back together and I was starting to feel much more comfortable,” Cibulkova told ESPN’s Pam Shriver in her on-court interview. “I knew my game was on today I just had to stay tough… I knew I had to do it. She would not give me one ball.”
It was Ivanovic’s first US Open opening-round exit since she suffered a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) loss to No. 52 Kateryna Bondarenko in the 2009 Flushing Meadows first round. Bondarenko went on to reach the quarterfinals that year.
“It’s a very disappointing loss, today’s loss,” Ivanovic said in her post-match press conference. “Because I felt like I did a lot of hard work the last few months. Over the last weeks, I thought I had a lot of good preparation, lots of good training and everything. It’s just unfortunate we came up against one another so early in the tournament.
“It was a very tough first match for both of us—and first match of the tournament as well. so it’s not easy. But today, I felt she used her opportunities better than I did.”
The 50th-ranked Cibulkova is hoping her second Top 10 victory of the season will vault her deep in the draw as well. This US Open is already more successful than the last one for the 2014 Australian Open runner-up.
Cibulkova snapped a three-match losing streak in New York dispatching the former world No. 1 with determined runs in the first and final sets.
Down a break at the outset, Cibulkova ran off six of the next seven games to take the opener.
“In New Haven, I started to get my game back together and I was starting to feel much more comfortable,” Cibulkova told ESPN’s Pam Shriver in her on-court interview. “I knew my game was on today I just had to stay tough… I knew I had to do it. She would not give me one ball.”
Serving at 1-3 in the second set, Ivanovic fought off two break points. On the third break point, Cibulkova missed a relatively routine backhand volley. That miss sparked the Serbian, who earned a hard-fought hold for 2-3. Ivanovic broke back then held at love for 4-3. When Cibulkova, who was finding the net with increasing frequency, netted a running forehand, Ivanovic had a second straight for 5-3. Unloading a forehand crosscourt for set point, Ivanovic closed the set to level after 75 minutes of play.
Breaking to open the decider, Ivanovic reeled off her sixth straight game.
The sturdy Cibulkova answered getting low to the ball and driving inside-out forehand into the former French Open champion’s weaker backhand wing. Zapping a forehand swing volley winner, Cibulkova broke back at love sparking a four-game run. Both women favor the forehand as their kill shot, but Cibulkova hurt Ivanovic in the backhand exchanges down the stretch.
“I actually started well. I felt she was a little bit nervous in the first few games,” Ivanovic said. “But then she strarted to strike the ball very deep especially on her backhand. In the third set, I created chances, but I felt she always came out with a good shot. She was playing very deep and through the middle a lot and sometimes I was getting caught.”
Ivanovic took treatment for an apparent blister on her left foot then returned to hold for 2-4. Cibulkova would not be denied closing out her first Grand Slam win since she defeated Victoria Azarenka to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals in January. Cibulkova will play American Jessica Pegula for a spot in round three.
Read more Rich Pagliaro at Tennis Now.