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Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova celebrates victory at the Aegon International at Eastbourne with the trophy – Action Images via Reuters
AFP: Dominika Cibulkova beat Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-3 on Saturday to claim her first career title on grass at the WTA Eastbourne event.
The Slovak 12th seed was competing in her fourth final of 2016 and now owns two trophies since April after her victory in just over 90 minutes over the Czech.
Former Australian Open finalist Cibulkova will move back to 19th in the rankings as she makes a recovery from 2015 Achilles ankle surgery.
The winner added the pre-Wimbledon showpiece to her trophy from two months ago when she won in Katowice, Poland. The energetic Slovak now holds six career trophies, all but Eastbourne won on hardcourt or indoor hardcourt.
Cibulkova improved her record over Pliskova to 2-0 after a 2014 win in the Kuala Lumpur semi-finals.
The winner advanced on her third match point.