Jul 19, 2008

Sugiyama claims thrilling quarterfinal

38-year-old veteran comes back after facing triple match point

By John Reid / Daily News Staff Writer

Things looked bleak for Ai Sugiyama in her Bank of the West Classic quarterfinal with Dominika Cibulkova Friday at Stanford University. Sugiyama was serving, down 0-40 with Cibulkova - up 5-4 in the second set - staring at match point. Then came a reversal of fortune of which Sugiyama had never seen the likes of. Sugiyama somehow rallied to win the game, then forced a tiebreaker, before pulling off a miracle 6-7, 7-6 5-3 (ret.) victory after Cibulkova retired because of a leg cramp.

"I have never been down match-point like that and come back and won the match," said Sugiyama, whose fans simply called 'Ai'. "I played it point by point. I wasn't thinking about the score. I still can't believe that I was able to come back from that position."

Sugiyama, 38th-ranked player in the world from Japan, plays in tonight's semifinals at 7 p.m. vs. sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli, who beat second-seeded and defending champion Anna Chakvetadze in the nightcap.

Sugiyama just turned 33 on July 5 and couldn't possibly have had a better birthday gift than what she got Friday.

"I don't feel that old, but I wake up with my body aching all over in the morning," Sugiyama said. "I try not to think about age. It's a good feeling to reach the semifinals, but I can't be satisfied with that. I want to improve and go farther."

Cibulkova, the No. 32-ranked player in the world, appeared to have the match won once more after blitzing Sugiyama in a game to go up 6-5 in the second set. But, the resilient Sugiyama forged on to force the tiebreaker, the first one to six points the victor, though one must win by two. Sugiyama went up 5-3 before Cibulkova tied the score 5-5. Cibulkova challenged one call that went against her, but she didn't win the video replay challenge. Sugiyama eventually won the tiebreaker 7-5.

Sugiyama held serve to lead 4-3 in the third set, then broke Cibulkova's serve for a 5-3 advantage. It was at that point that Cibulkova stayed on the bench between games, summoning a trainer to address the leg cramp. The match took a bizarre turn at that point with a male voice coming through the sound system, interviewing a couple of models from a fashion show held outside the stadium. The banter, albeit broken at times, didn't stop for some time, which meant the players had to wait to resume play. The strange interlude brought some needed laughter to Cibulkova, who appeared to be in agonizing pain. Sugiyama, however, was not amused with the unwarranted interruption.

"That bothered me," Sugiyama said. "I didn't like it. It stopped my momentum. I had to stop and think on what I had to do."

Sugiyama admitted Cibulkova's injury also weighed into the mix.

"It was a tough match for me," Sugiyama said. "You never know what's going to happen until the end. It was unfortunate she had to stop."

After play was resumed, Cibulkova, only 19 years of age, courageously returned to the court to try to play the final points. When she reached for a shot while running to her right, she was done for the day, unable to make a go of it, down 40-0.

"I know I'm young and I'll learn, but it's still tough," Cibulkova said. "I rushed my shots. I've had leg cramps lots of times in the past."

"Cibulkova is a good player," Sugiyama said. "Even if she was hurt, I didn't want to make it easy for her and just hit it over. That has happened to me before."