The ball hit the tape of the net, bounced high up then landed on Angelique Kerber’s side to give Dominika Cibulkova a lucky break on her championship point that delivered the Slovak No7 seed the biggest title of her career.
Luck may have helped her out on the last point of the WTA Finals tournament, but it had little else to do with Cibulkova’s marvelous 2016, which she finishes at a career-high No5 ranking in the world.
After losing her first two round robin matches in Singapore to Angelique Kerber and Madison Keys, Cibulkova beat Simona Halep to squeeze into the semis, before defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the last-four and exacting her revenge on Kerber in the title decider.
Cibulkova spoiled two storylines in Singapore this week but ended up gifting us a remarkable one of her own.
With Kuznetsova pulling off a do-or-die title victory in Moscow and qualifying for Singapore just one day before the tournament started, the Russian making the final would have been a surreal and brilliant scenario. But WTA Finals debutante Cibulkova had other ideas as she knocked her out in the semi-finals.
A Kerber triumph in the season-closing championship would have capped a phenomenal year for the world No1 who won the Australian Open in January, made the Wimbledon final in July, took Olympic silver in August, and won the Australian Open in September. Winning Singapore would have been a fitting finale for the German, but again, Cibulkova thought differently.
The trophy ceremony speech from @Cibulkova after her emotional win #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/jAfaj92zPZ
— WTA (@WTA) October 30, 2016
For someone who was ranked as low as 66 in the rankings just eight months ago, and had Achilles’ surgery last year, Cibulkova has certainly been an example for perseverance in 2016. She seamlessly took her consistency from one surface to another, and ends the season with the second-most match wins on tour (53).
Kerber was considered the overwhelming favourite, having beaten Cibulkova in their last five consecutive meetings but if we’ve learned anything from the WTA this year, it’s to expect the unexpected. Maria Sharapova got suspended for committing an anti-doping violation, Victoria Azarenka got pregnant, Serena Williams played just eight tournaments all season and vacated her No1 spot, Karolina Pliskova and Cibulkova made their top-five debuts, Madison Keys and Johanna Konta entered the top-10 for the first time, Garbine Muguruza won her maiden grand slam title… the list goes on and on.
The WTA Finals gave us a sneak peek at what the women’s tour could possibly look like without Serena. Even though the American was not present in the tournament last year, this year, in Sharapova’s absence as well, things felt different in Singapore. The entire field felt closely bunched together in terms of competitiveness and almost every match was a toss-up.
A look at the season as a whole shows a degree of dominance and consistency from the top players. The slams were won by Kerber, Serena and Muguruza, the four Premier Mandatory tournaments were won by Victoria Azarenka, Halep and Radwanska, while the Premier 5s were won by Carla Suarez Navarro, Serena, Halep, Pliskova and Petra Kvitova.
With young players like Keys and Jelena Ostapenko making finals of Premier 5ss, and teenagers like Belinda Bencic and Naomi Osaka reaching finals at Premier tournaments, there’s been a very solid mix of dependability and unpredictability in 2016. Add to that the successful comebacks of the likes of Cibulkova and Caroline Wozniacki and you realise this year on the women’s circuit delivered, with interest.
A special message from #WTAFinals champ Dominika @Cibulkova to her fans! pic.twitter.com/qnHna1stbj
— WTA (@WTA) October 30, 2016
