Cabrera continues impressive run in Brisbane
Queensland's Lizette Cabrera has reached the quarterfinals in her hometown of Brisbane after defeating Hungarian Dalma Galfi.
Brisbane QLD, Australia, 30 September 2016 | David Packman
Local favourite Lizette Cabrera is the last Australian woman remaining in the Brisbane QTC Tennis International after reaching the quarterfinals on Thursday.
The 18-year-old Queenslander, who won the Australian Pro Tour title in Tweed Heads last week, defeated former junior world No.1 and fifth seed Dalma Galfi of Hungary 7-6(4) 7-5 on a day heavily impacted by rain.
“I’m really happy with the win,” said Cabrera. “The one thing I wanted to focus on was making sure I backed up from last week. I’ve recovered well with my body and I’m feeling really good out there, so hopefully I can keep going.”
Cabrera has been in impressive form of late, recently returning home from a successful tour of the USA and Canada with a near career-high world ranking (No.484) and the confidence to continue making her mark this summer.
“I’m in a really good headspace at the moment. I think it’s from a lot of the wins I’ve been having lately but I’m also feeling really good out there and just enjoying playing.
“I’ve been working a lot on just going out there and being mentally tough.”
It was a torrid battle from the outset against Galfi with the first set fittingly decided in a tiebreaker. Cabrera then kicked out to an early lead in the second before allowing the Hungarian teen back into the contest.
“I got a bit tight and I kind of backed off a little bit,” said Cabrera. “I played to more of her strengths than what I was doing at the start. Then I just took my time and relaxed.”
Cabrera now faces second seed Julia Glushko on Friday; the Israeli coming from a set down to defeat Naiktha Bains in their second round affair.
Fellow Aussie Alison Bai also took the opening set in her match against unseeded Italian Georgia Brescia, but she too was eventually run down, bowing out 2-6 6-0 7-6(3) in a topsy-turvy encounter.
Destanee Aiava, Tammi Patterson and Olivia Rogowska – who retired midway through her match against Japanese fourth seed Eri Hozumi – were also unsuccessful in moving past the second round.
Papa New Guinean qualifier Abigail Tere-Apisah has been the surprise packet of the tournament thus far, reaching the quarterfinals with a straight sets win over Stephanie Tan – the Singaporean bundled out last year’s title winner Priscilla Hon in the opening round.
Live scores of all Australian Pro Tour events are available at www.tennis.com.au/protour/scores and for a live stream of selected events visit www.tennis.com.au/protour.