Cibulkova seals first grass-court title in Eastbourne

“From the first match (at Eastbourne) I was playing really, really good, and I just kept going”, said Cibulkova, explaining she’d found it hard emotionally to play two matches in one windy day at Eastbourne.

The Slovak ended the see-saw opening set with a fourth break of the Czech serve and got away to a 3-1 lead in the second as rain clouds threatened to roll in over Devonshire Park.

Radwanska was steering towards victory when match was stopped on the previous day, as she was set and a break up. The 12th-seeded Slovakian will face 10th-seeded Karolina Pliskova in the championship match.

Puig, who spent almost three hours in defeating French Open doubles champion Mladenovic 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-3, said that mental strength was vital.

Puig, a Puerto Rican, needed 2 hours, 43 minutes to overcome Kristina Mladenovic of France 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3, and become the first qualifier in the semis since American Jamie Hampton in 2013. “I was too defensive and didn’t really find my rhythm”.

The alarming moment came as she tried to recover from 3-0 down in the second set against her Czech opponent.

Tennis- Former top 10 player Dominika Cibulkova reached the final of Aegon International WTA Tournament in Eastbourne after stunning the top seed Agnieszka Radwanska on Friday. “In that year I played my quarter-final at Wimbledon. I’m extremely happy”, said the former Australian Open runner-up. It was a bit of a shock, nothing major happened. I tend to cry when I’m shocked.

She said on BBC Two: “This has been my best week on grass”. We played once previously on the grass and it was a close match then.

“The strength comes from within, but I think it just gets stronger due to the experience I have had in the past. With the conditions and with the wind it was really, really, really tough to play and focus”, said Cibulkova after winning her sixth career title.

“It probably comes with age – I’m 25 now, and hopefully much wiser”.

Muller hit 19 aces through the first two sets, but in the tiebreaker, trailing 6-3, he hit a double-fault to concede the second set.