The quarterfinals in Acapulco were started off by Cibulkova beating the only seed remaining in the top half, Johanna Larsson in three sets to advance to the semifinals. There she will have to face the American Christina McHale, who played her third 3 set match in a row in this tournament, beating Mrijana Lucic-Baroni 6-4 6-7 6-2. In the bottom half, the semifinal between the 8th and 2nd seed. Yanina Wickmayer managed to pull of the upset over Pavlyuchenkova, 6-3 7-6, and won now her third match in a row in their head-to-head. Sloane Stephens advanced through the Japanese youngster, Naomi Osaka in straight sets.
Cibulkova started off the first set quite well, leading 2-0 and 40-30 on her serve, but she didn’t hold a single service game in that set after that. There were 6 breaks in the first set, Cibulkova was broke 4 times and Larsson twice. Cibulkova was serving quite badly, with 4 double faults and only 43% of points won after first serve. After a streak of 5 breaks in a row to start the second set, it was Cibulkova who was leading 3-2 and held to 4-2. Larsson was broken once again and Cibulkova successfully served out. Her stats got way better, her points won after first serve was up to 59% as Larsson’s was 42% and won only one point in the whole set after the second serve. She didn’t hold a single service game in the second set. Larsson lost her serve at 1-2 in the third set. Cibulkova kept holding that break, and there were no more breaks of serve until Larsson was serving to stay in the match at 3-5. Cibulkova got her first match point at 30-40, took the chance and won the match.
Dominika Cibulkova – (6) Johanna Larsson 3-6 6-2 6-3
The match to watch out for yesterday was played between Naomi Osaka and the second seed Sloane Stephens. Both players were playing really well on their service games in the beginning of the first set. Until 3-3, they were holding easily, without a single deuce. During the 7th game, Osaka was once again looking to hold, leading 40-30, but Stephens pushed the game to deuce, and she won the game after her second break point opportunity. Osaka then lost her serve once more at 3-5, letting Stephens take the first set 6-3. Sloane was completely dominant during her service games, having the points won after first serve at 85%, losing only two points. On the other side, Osaka had only 50% in that same stat, which seems like one of the causes of Stephens winning. Second set seemed more equally matched. Whenever one of the players would break, the other would re-break. This occurred twice, first time in the opening two games of the second set, and when Stephens was up 4-3. Afterwards both players held easily to 6-5, forcing Osaka to serve to stay in the match. She didn’t take the pressure too well and once again allowed her opponent to break her in the final game of the set.
(2) Sloane Stephens – (WC) Naomi Osaka 6-3 7-5
My Predictions for Semifinals:
Dominika Cibulkova – Christina McHale- Cibulkova is leading this head-to-head 3-0, with the last match being the final of this tournament in 2014. McHale had a tough road, each of her matches lasting over 2 hours. Fatigue will definitely affect McHale’s performance. I expect her to take the first set, but then lose in three.
Prediction: Cibulkova wins 2-1
(2) Sloane Stephens – (8) Yanina Wickmayer- Stephens is leading this head-to-head 1-0. Their only meeting was at the Miami Masters tournament, in the first round. Despite Wickmayer having more impressive wins (Puig, Pavlyuchenkova) I still think that Stephens will be the winner of this match, just because she is a better mover, and a better defender than Wickmayer.
Prediction: Stephens wins 2-0
