TENNIS WTA Rome – Camila Giorgi, who played her first match in the Main Draw of the Internazionali d’Italia, pulled off an impressive show beating this year’s Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova 6-4 7-6 (7-2) to the delight of Italian fans who packed the famous Pietrangeli Court. The match was interrupted by rain after the two players were level 1-1 in the first two games. Diego Sampaolo
Interviews, results, order of play, draws of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome
Camila Giorgi, who played her first match in the Main Draw of the Internazionali d’Italia, pulled off an impressive show beating this year’s Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova 6-4 7-6 (7-2) to the delight of Italian fans who packed the famous Pietrangeli Court. The match was interrupted by rain after the two players were level 1-1 in the first two games.
Giorgi, who beat Maria Sharapova at Indian Wells last March and reached her first WTA final in Katowice, played an aggressive match in the first set from the beginning. She broke serve in the fourth game of the first set to take a 3-1 lead. Giorgi made two double faults to drop serve allowing Cibulkova to break back. The first set was decided at 4-4 when Giorgi made two double faults trailing 15-40 but she pulled off a spectacular backhand down the line and a forehand which delighted the very supportive Rome crowd who packed the Pietrangeli crowd. At 5-4 Giorgi got the break to clinch the first set with 6-4.
In the second set the young Italian player faced a tough challenge from Cibulkova as she served for the match at 5-3. Giorgi was two points within winning the match but she made a series of unforced errors and hit a backhand long on match point allowing Cibulkova to claw her way back into the match from a 2-5 deficit to 5-all. Up 6-5 Giorgi got a match-point on Cibulkova’s serve but hit a return wide and the second set came down to the tie-break.
In the tie-break Giorgi went up 4-1 before a fantastic backhand for 6-2. The Italian wrapped up the match when Cibulkova made an error. Giorgi took a well-deserved win in a match where she hit 31 winners
“It was an emotional wi as it was my first time in Rome. I did not play very well in some parts of the match but playing against a higher ranked player will help me to grow. I played many matches on clay. I want to improve on this surface”, said Giorgi.
