Just the day after five-time champion Serena Williams was booted out of the competition, another former champion was shown the exit at the Melbourne Park.
Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia ousted former champion Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open 2014 fourth round 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. The Russian struggled with her serve during the second and third sets and her 45 unforced errors did not help her make a comeback during the deciding set.
Despite the loss, Sharapova is looking at the brighter side, stating that she’s happy to be healthy and back in competition.
“I have to look at the positives and see where I have come from in four or five months. I haven’t played a lot of tennis in those six months,” said Sharapova, a three-time finalist at the Melbourne Park, winning the title back in 2008.
“So I certainly would have loved to play a little bit more before playing a Grand Slam, but this is the chance that I was given.”
With Williams and Sharapova out of the competition, only two-time defending champion Victoria Azarenka is the only former champion left in the draw. Azarenka is through to the quarterfinals after fending off 13th-seed Sloane Stephens.
“I was never doubting myself,” Cibulkova said. The diminutive Slovak said that Ana Ivanovic’s win over Serena Williams the day before motivated her but stressed that her past wins against Sharapova also fueled her belief that she could win.
“It was a great match for Ana. But this was a different story. I already beat Maria before and I beat her” at a major,” she said.
