Cibulkova stuns World No 1 Kerber to win WTA final

Runner-up at the 2014 Australian Open, Slovakia’s Cibulkova turned the tables on Germany’s Kerber a week after losing to her in the round-robin stage to capture the biggest title of her career, sealing it with a fortuitous net cord after nervously blowing her first three match points. “This is a big moment for me. It’s the biggest moment in my career,” Cibulkova said. “It’s hard to describe in words (how I feel). I have to congratulate Angelique Kerber, you are an inspiration for me to play hard this year. With hard work, everything is possible.”

Kerber went into the final as the overwhelming favourite to win after taking this year’s Australian Open and US Open titles but the 28-year-old was powerless to stop her diminutive opponent, whose shock win capped an inspired return to the game’s elite that saw her named as this season’s WTA Comeback Player of the Year. Ranked as low as 66th in the world in February after struggling with injuries in 2015, Cibulkova only just snuck into the WTA Finals, restricted to the world’s top eight players, when she won this month’s Linz Open in Austria.

She was facing an early exit when she lost her first two round-robin matches in Singapore but suddenly turned things around, and won her last one. For her win over Kerber, Cibulkova was presented with the Billie Jean King trophy and a cheque for $2.05 million, the biggest payday of her life, while the German was left wondering what went wrong.

“I’ve had an amazing year. I gave everything on court today,” Kerber said.