Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina won her biggest career title by beating Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, 6-4 6-2.
Two phenomenal passing shots gave the seventh-seeded Svitolina her first kick in the opening set and after winning the following game at love, the Ukrainian enjoyed a 4-2 lead. The tenth-seeded Wozniacki survived four deuces in the seventh game to hold serve and in the tenth game she had a chance for a comeback with 40-0 on Svitolina’s serve, but Svitolina finally converted her fourth set point and won the set.
The second set started with an exchange of breaks, but Svitolina was way more dominant in the remainder of the set, recording her second victory over Wozniacki in as many career meetings and winning her sixth WTA title. Svitolina made 23 winners to 25 unforced errors, while Wozniacki’s differential was -17, 10 winners to 27 unforced errors.
Let’s face it, it was Wozniacki’s 11th match in 11 days and her second straight final, after last week’s Qatar Total Open! Even though those are impressive results, it must be hard for Caro to accept two lost finals. Svitolina is on an impressive streak — she’s won 12 consecutive matches, losing a total of just three sets en route to the Taipei Open title, Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title and two Fed Cup wins.
Other opponents that the 22-year-old Svitolina saw off in Dubai were Zheng Saisai in the second round, Christina McHale in the third round, Lauren Davis in the quarterfinals and top seed Angelique Kerber in the semis.
Svitolina is now at a career-high ranking of No.13, but the Dubai title will propel her into the Top 10!
The outfit that made Svitolina’s run to the champion’s trophy comfortable is a black and white combo including the Nike Spring Premier Slam Tank and the Nike Spring Print Power Spin Skirt.
She deserves to be in the Top 10. I think she’ll be reaching as high as Top 5 this year if she keeps on playing like this. I hope she makes waves in the Grand Slams as well.
Congratulations to Elina. The teenager CiCi Bellis had a good tournament making it to the quarters before losing to Caro.