Pressure has powered Dominika Cibulkova’s recent surge

Dominika Cibulkova says that winning the title in Linz, which secured her spot in the WTA Finals in Singapore, might be the biggest accomplishment of her season.

Cibulkova, who has had the most consistent season of her career in 2016, said that adding a psychologist to her team has helped her performance. She called her achievement in Linz a demonstration of her improvement.

“You know, it was really important for me that I won there," she said. "...I knew that I have [to reach] at least [the] finals or win the tournament to get some points ... I was really pumped up … OK, I only have one goal—to win it."

“I saw this kind of pressure was pushing me forward,” she added. "...Of course it's something that I work on with my mental coach, but it's different when you have to actually do it rather than just talking with him about it. This [gave] me a lot of confidence.”

Cibulkova, who also won titles in Katowice and Eastbourne this season, lost her first WTA Finals round-robin match to world No. 1 Angelique Kerber.

Cibulkova is a career-high No. 8 in the rankings.