Feeling The Heat

It was billed as a battle of the up-and-coming teenagers, and for the first set the match lived up to the hype.

Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, 18, and Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova, 19, met in the first match on Stadium Court Monday.

Although down early, Wozniacki rallied to tie the set at 6 and force a tiebreak. She went to win the tiebreak, 9-7, and claimed the first set.

But before the start of the second set, Cibulkova retired due to illness from fatigue and the heat. Cibulkova is ranked 19th on the WTA singles tour and was seeded eighth in this tournament.

Since the end of July, Cibulkova has played tournaments at Stanford, Los Angeles, Montreal and at the Olympics in China before coming to New Haven on Saturday night.

"I'm sure (all the traveling played a factor)," Cibulkova said. "I had a tough month because I was traveling. I played two tournaments in the U.S. and I played Montreal. I flew from Montreal home (to Slovakia), then to Beijing then home then here. I am kind of tired and I need to have some days off."

Cibulkova was making her second appearance in New Haven. She advanced to the main draw as a "lucky loser" from the qualifying round but was forced to retire in the first round against Emilie Loit.

"It was another retirement," Cibulkova said. "Maybe I will think about (playing here) next time about having a week off (before next week's U.S.Open)."

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