STANFORD, Calif. – Dominika Cibulkova advanced to her second WTA Tour final this year, coasting past Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-0 on Saturday in the Bank of the West Classic.
Cibulkova controlled the pace and played patient and near-perfect tennis against an opponent who folded fast. The third-seeded Cibulkova saved all six break points in the first set and often stayed back on the baseline waiting for Cirstea to make mistakes.
The approach helped Cibulkova go ahead 5-3 in the first set and sweep the second set to cruise into the final on the sun-splashed Stanford campus. The Slovak has two career singles titles and last appeared in a final in January in Sydney, where she lost 6-0, 6-0 to Agnezia Radwanska.
The top-seeded Radwanska faced American Jamie Hampton in the other semifinal.
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