Gavrilova Out-Grinds Cibulkova for 1st Career Title at WTA New Haven
Unseeded Australian Daria Gavrilova won her first WTA title on Saturday, upsetting No. 2 seed Dominika Cibulkova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Connecticut Open in New Haven.
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“It feels pretty special to win my first tournament here,” Gavrilova told the crowd afterwards. “It means the world to me to hold this trophy.”
Gavrilova will enter the Top 20 on the WTA rankings for the first time on Monday. She had previously reached two WTA finals, this year at Strasbourg, and last year at Moscow.
“It was a fight for every single ball, and I gave 100 percent today, and she was just better,” said Cibulkova, who was looking for her first title of the year, and dropped to 8-11 in career championship matches. “This was a tournament I could finally play my good tennis, and I’m happy about it.”
Cibulkova broke in the third set to go up 4-3, but it would be the last game she would win.
The Slovak won her last title at the WTA Finals to end the 2016 season.
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