WTA Finals: ‘Pocket Rocket’ stuns No.1 Angelique Kerber

Slovakia’s ‘Pocket Rocket’ Dominika Cibulkova blasted aside world number one Angelique Kerber to win the WTA Finals title in a stunning upset in Singapore Sunday.

Cibulkova packed a punch well above her diminutive 1.60m stature to beat the German top seed and tournament favorite 6-3 6-4 in the final, taking home a first prize of $2.05 million.

As a youngster Cibulkova was told she was too small to make it to the top, but she has proved the doubters wrong.

“They underestimated me,” Cibulkova told reporters.”I think I was always brave with my height. I was just maybe stubborn and brave. I really wanted to play tennis. Nobody could tell me different.”

Kerber, who has usurped Serena Williams to top the rankings after claiming the Australian and US Open titles, had won her four previous matches at the end-of-season finale to the WTA Tour, including a round-robin victory over Cibulkova last weekend.

She advanced to the final by thrashing defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in straight sets.

Read: Kerber and Cibulkova advance to final

By contrast, Cibulkova needed to beat Simona Halep in straight sets to advance out of the group with a 1-2 record, followed by semifinal win over Svetlana Kuznetsova, recovering from a set down to claim victory.

All those fighting qualities were on full show against Kerber, with an early break taking her into a 3-0 lead before the German hit back with a break of her own.

Superb all-court play saw Cibulkova break again to take the opening set, clinched with a trademark forehand winner.

The second set was tighter but in the seventh game Kerber’s sixth double fault handed the Slovak a chance she took with both hands.

Serving for the match at 5-4, Cibulkova showed her first signs of nerves as she wasted two match points and it needed a slice of good fortune for a further chance.

Kerber made a weak return at deuce before the underdog sealed the title on her fourth match point, courtesy of a net cord off a forehand.

Cibulkova fell to the court on the baseline, unable to take in easily the biggest win of her career, but paid tribute to Kerber at the presentations.

“You were an inspiration for me this year, proving that with hard work everything is possible,” she said.

Cibulkova made headlines at Wimbledon when she upset the third seed Radwanska to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in a three-hour epic, one of the matches of the year.

It meant her planned wedding to Miso Navara, scheduled for women’s singles finals day, may have needed to be postponed, but she lost in the next round to the unseeded Elena Vesnina, Serena Williams’ semifinal victim on her way to a 22nd grand slam title.

Vesnina and fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova took the doubles title in Singapore with a victory earlier Sunday over US Open winners Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova 7-6 6-3.

Williams missed the eight-player WTA Finals due to a shoulder injury.