By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Agnieszka Radwanska will enter the Australian Open as one of the favorites, especially if her play to start 2013 is any indication.
Radwanska has yet to drop a set in nine matches this year and punctuated her preparation for the first Grand Slam of the season with a 6-0, 6-0 rout of Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova on Friday in the final of the Sydney International.
Cibulkova had taken out a trio of top 10 players en route to the final, beating Petra Kvitova in the first round, Sara Errani in the quarterfinals and Angelique Kerber in the semis. She was no match for the fourth-ranked and top- seeded Radwanska on Friday.
Radwanska needed just 62 minutes to earn her 12th career title. She did face four break points against her serve, but saved each one and broke Cibulkova six times in 11 opportunities.
"I didn't really expect this at all," said Radwanska, who also prevailed in the season-opener last week in Auckland. "She's a great player, a top player, and she had some great wins all week, so I really didn't expect that score at all today."
Radwanska dominated the latter stages of the match, winning 22 of the last 25 points to complete the first double-bagel in a final since Marion Bartoli beat Olga Puchkova in the 2006 Quebec City finale.
"It was the first time something like that has happened to me," said Cibulkova. "I was losing every game -- and actually I felt I could win every game I lost until 6-0, 1-0. But when I lost that 1-0 game again in the second set, I just completely broke down and stopped thinking about what I had to do, and how to play well. I was just thinking, 'Oh my God, what is happening?'"
Cibulkova fell to 2-5 lifetime in finals and has yet to beat Radwanska in four all-time meetings. She will open play next week at the Australian Open against Ashleigh Barty.
Radwanska, who reached her first Grand Slam final last summer at Wimbledon, has been a quarterfinalist each of the last two years in Melbourne. She will start play next week against Bojana Bobusic.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/radwanska-routs-cibulkova-to-claim-sydney-crown