By Ros Satar, at Wimbledon
- Dominika Cibulkova def. Hsieh Su-Wei 6-4 6-1
- Was furious after a disputed call was overturned, amidst claims of sportsmanship
- Faces Jelena Ostapenko next who defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-6(4) 6-0
WIMBLEDON, UK – Dominika Cibulkova reached the quarter-finals again, but not without yet more controversy surrounding her.
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Dominika Cibulkova def. Hsieh Su-Wei 6-4 6-1
Now three-time quarter-finalist Dominika Cibulkova has been no stranger to speaking out this tournament. Firstly, she made her feelings known regarding the All England Club’s decision to award Serena Williams a seeding, which bumped her out of the 32 seeds at the start of the tournament.
READ MORE | Wimbledon 2018 | Where the seeds may fall as Serena William is seeded on her return
Wimbledon 2018 | Where the seeds may fall as Serena William is seeded on her return
Then, in a set where holding serve seemed to be impossible for the pair, the Slovakian was embroiled in a furious discussion with chair umpire, Jenny Zhang. A Cibulkova return had originally called out and was over-ruled by Hawkeye was originally awarded to Cibulkova, even though Hsieh Su-Wei had got her racquet to the ball after the initial call, and it landed in play.
Hsieh disputed the point being lost, demanding the referee with the crowd getting behind her for the point to be replayed – a decision that Zhang would make, much to Cibulkova’s annoyance.
Cibulkova went on to win the first set where there had been only one hold of serve and was quickly fired up to forge ahead in the second set, but her reaction won her few friends and a lot of criticism for sportswomanship.
After the match, despite saying she did not want to relive the moment, which left her fuming, she elaborated in quite some detail her displeasure with the whole situation.\
She said: “This is another thing I really don’t want to talk about because I would get really upset and angry about that, because it was ridiculous what happened there. It never happened to me in my career that this would happen. Just a player is complaining. Sometimes I’m also complaining because I think it was a wrong call.
“But it never happened to me that the umpire changed the decision. It was really ridiculous for me. I think it was really bad decision from the supervisor and from the umpire.
“They changed their mind. The umpire told me she don’t remember what happened after the ball. Is it my fault you don’t remember if she hit the net or if she put it on my side?
“It doesn’t matter. The call was after when she played the ball. She made a decision. After she was complaining, they were talking in Chinese, whatever language, I don’t know. It was all wrong I think. It really messed with me for two balls, then I tried to just calm down, to play my game.”
Jelena Ostapenko [12] def. Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-6(4) 6-0
She will face Jelena Ostapenko, who was tested in her first set by Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who ended two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova’s campaign in the first round,
Ostapenko had to come from 2-5 down in the first set before she reeled off 12 games in a row to beat the Belarusian.
After the match she said: “I think the opponent played quite well in the beginning. I couldn’t get used to the rhythm. But then slowly I got used to the rhythm, started to feel my game. I think at the end I finished really confident.
“I think there is still many things I can still improve, be on a higher level. But I think I’m playing a good level of tennis right now, feeling confident.”
Ostapenko has yet to beat Cibulkova, and they have met once on grass before. But after the Latvian fell in her first round of Roland Garros, defending her maiden Slam, she feels the pressure is off her a little now.
She continued: “I played her couple of times. I kind of know how she plays. Just going to prepare well for the match. As I said, I’m going to try to focus more on my game, on myself, then I think anything can happen.
“I’m just not afraid to miss. I’m just going for the shots. I think I’m serving very well this tournament. In general, I think my level is much better than last Grand Slam.”
The Ladies’ Singles quarter-finals are scheduled for Tuesday.
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