On the opening day of main draw action at the Nature Valley Classic, Daria Gavrilova, Naomi Osaka, and Magdalena Rybarikova were amongst the winners that progressed to the second round of the event.
Australia’s Daria Gavrilova played an exceptionally gritty match to get past former Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets. In most of the previous meetings between the two players there have been big competitive battles and this was no different.
Gavrilova has struggled for consistent form in her 2018 season, but she put together some of her best serving numbers in quite some time. Liable to hit a high number of double faults and sometimes to lose her emotions during a match, Gavrilova handled what she needed to handle very well in the first set. She frustrated Cibulkova with her skill to retrieve as many balls as possible and forced Cibulkova to play more shots than she simply was prepared to play. Against most players, Cibulkova can hit a high number of winners off her forehand side at will, but Gavrilova seemed to neutralise that weapon particularly well at times. The serving improvement of Gavrilova was the notable standout feature of this match overall.
The second set was certainly a lot more tricky for the Australian, who definitely moved away from the things that served her so well in the opening set. The World No. 25 created three match point chances on Cibulkova’s serve at 6-5 in the 2nd set, but played each point with a bit of tension and a lack of awareness of what she was doing so well. She pulled out of the rally way too quickly and did not utilise the competitive fight she shows in rallies that has got her as high in the ranking as she has. Luckily for Gavrilova, she did show mighty resilience and fight in a fun tiebreak. Cibulkova held two match points, one where she committed a double fault and Gavrilova sliced and diced her way into the second round 6-3, 7-6(6).
Gavrilova now has beaten Cibulkova in two matches in a row, having beaten her in the New Haven final. The Australian seems to enjoy the pace that is coming towards her racquet, but her ability to move Cibulkova from her usual comfort zone on the court was integral to her win, while also displaying one of her better serving displays of the season.
Last week’s Nottingham semi-finalist Naomi Osaka dealt a bit of a lesson in grass-court tennis to the British wildcard Katie Boulter. The serve has always been a big part of the Japanese’s game, but now she is starting to pick up the winning habits in terms of getting her movement spot on on an unfamiliar service, while also talking herself into believing that her game can work on the grass. There were three key areas in which Osaka really excelled at in this match. The serve was as good as it gets and it helps Osaka get the short reply or win the cheap points at the beginning of the rally. The weight of shot from Osaka turned out to be a real problem for the Brit, who is used to having time to set up for her forehand and be aggressive early on in the rally, but it was Osaka who remained the aggressor and stayed on top for most of the match. Boulter strung a good few points together on Osaka’s serve towards the end to make it interesting, but Osaka’s confidence at an elite level is something that has helped her so much, particularly in the 2018 season.
It is a bit of a brutal lesson for Boulter to have after doing so well in Nottingham, but the experience of playing against someone with the quality of ball that Osaka has is something that Boulter can take into her next match against a Top-20 player if and when it comes.
The big news of the day came at the end of today’s schedule as Magdalena Rybarikova got a big win over Eastbourne champion Karolina Pliskova. This was a repeat of their epic match at Wimbledon last year, where Rybarikova scored a shock upset win and she stretches the head-to-head with another win versus the Czech. Rybarikova talked about what areas of her game really hurts and disrupts the groove of the Czech in her first Top 10 win of the season:
“Well, maybe she does not like my style, because I change a lot of the rhythm. I was trying to get a lot of returns back, which is tough for her because she tries to get a lot of free points from her serve. I was really focusing on the returns today and it was working well. My serve was working well today.”
Last year’s Wimbledon semifinalist has to deal and try to control the heightened expectation levels after her best career slam result to date and was determined to ignore the hype around her results when trying to defend those points in the upcoming Wimbledon.
“When people see me on grass they expect that I am going to reach the semis like last year. Obviously that will be very difficult, I’m not a player who was always semi-final of a Grand Slam, so it is tough, obviously it is tough, but I am trying to block it.”
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