Dominika Cibulkova beats Karolina Pliskova in Eastbourne final
Slovak 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova overcame Karolina Pliskova and some windy on-court conditions to win Eastbourne’s Aegon International.
The 27-year-old, who is 19th seed at Wimbledon, won 7-5 6-3 to secure her first grass-court title.
Pliskova’s serve was a less potent weapon than when she hit 12 aces in her semi-final defeat of Johanna Konta.
Instead, Cibulkova’s focus and movement proved vital as she saw off six break-back points late in the second set.
| Match stats | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cibulkova | Pliskova | |
| 0 | Aces | 4 |
| 1 | Double faults | 3 |
| 72% | First serve % | 60% |
| 56% | Pts won on first serve | 67% |
| 57% | Pts won on second serve | 29% |
| 5/11 | Break point conversion | 3/9 |
“I said when I arrived that Martina Navratilova has won it 11 times – it would be good to win it once,” she told BBC Sport.
“This is my best week on grass. I was playing really well. The conditions were very hard.”
Both players struggled early on as the wind swirled around Devonshire Park, resulting in six breaks of serve in the opening eight games.
However Pliskova’s failure as she served to take the first set to a tie-break at 6-5 down was decisive.
The Czech, who won in Nottingham as part of an impressive preparation for Wimbledon, was broken again in the fourth game of the second and, despite mounting serious pressure on the Cibulkova serve, could not repair the damage.
Cibulkova plays Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the first round of Wimbledon, while Pliskova takes on Yanina Wickmayer.