On their way to the final, both Cibulkova and Pavlyuchenkova showed dominant performances. While the Russian didn't lose a single set, Cibulkova lost only 1 in the semifinal as they set up the final.

And the final match had all it should have. Players battled on the court for 3 hours and 39 minutes as the match was decided in 3 tie-breaks. After being 2-5 down in the first tie-break, Cibulkova won 5 points in a row to win the first tie-break 7-5.

In the second set, Pavlyuchenkova didn't allow Cibulkova to get a single match point as she converted her 3rd set point to win the second set 7-3. Cibulkova led already 3-1 and had 2 match points in the decisive set but Pavlyuchenkova converted her 3rd championship point to win the match and capture her first and only title of 2018 season.

"Two years ago today... That was epic final in Strasbourg! Three 7:6 sets and 3:35 duration — the real battle. Dominika Cibulkova and I both wanted to win, none of us was going to give up till the end. For a moment we couldn’t believe that this match would ever end! It’s my 12th title in the career. I really needed this victory in Strasbourg and was ready to give it all. «Win at all costs and crawl away» as dad used to say in my childhood. So I did," Pavlyuchenkova wrote.
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"I remember the last play. Dominika missed and... I looked back at my team and they couldn’t realise that the game was over. Unreal emotions! Right after the rewarding ceremony we had to go to Paris. We jumped into the last train to be in time on Roland Garros. Joked that the Strasbourg win was a pretty good warm-up)," wrote Pavlyuchenkova

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