Saturday, Feb 25, 2017

Dubai

Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina bagged the biggest title of her career so far with a 6-4, 6-2 win over former world No. 1 and 2011 Dubai champion Caroline Wozniacki in a rain-delayed final of the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open, late yesterday.

With intermittent rain delaying the start of the final to well past 9 pm, the 22-year-old seventh seed made Dubai her biggest career prize following her previous five tournament victories coming at International events on the WTA Tour.

The winner walked away with $487,245 (Dh1.78 million) along with the 900 ranking points, while the runner-up had to stay content with $243,621 and 585 ranking points. This was only the third time in the 17-year history of the tournament that both finalists were ranked outside the top 10.

Shaikh Hasher Al Maktoum, Director-General, Dubai Information Department and President of Tennis Emirates, was the chief guest and presented the trophies to the new champions in the presence of Abdul Rahman Falaknaz, Vice-President, Tennis Emirates; Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice-Chairman and CEO of DDF, Tournament Director Salah Tahlak and Sinead Al Sibai, Senior Vice-President, Marketing, Dubai Duty Free.

“I am super happy with this win as this is the biggest of my career so far. This indeed is a very, very special win for me,” Svitolina told the crowd on centre court.

“I am feeling overwhelmed at the moment. I need to treat myself with something tonight, but I really don’t know what I am going to be doing,” she added.

Going in with a 1-0 career advantage following her win over Wozniacki in Miami last year, Svitolina kept her nerve as she broke in the fifth and then held for a 4-2 cushion in the first set. That was just enough for the 22-year-old to take the opening set 6-4 in 54 minutes.

“It is always tough playing against Caroline,” the younger player admitted.

“I have been working on several aspects of my game for the past few years and today it has all come together to make this such a fantastic week for me,” Svitolina added.

After an early exchange of breaks between the two at the start of the second set, it was Svitolina who made the first move with a break in the fifth and then held for 4-2. She then dug in deep for a third break in the seventh (5-2) to ultimately serve out the set 6-2 to become only the 12th player to be crowned the champion in this tournament.

Making her third successive appearance in Dubai, Svitolina had reached the semi-finals last year where she went down to eventual champion Sara Errani. Svitolina has shown marked improvement in her game, as displayed by her two singles wins in Ukraine’s Fed Cup victory over Australia.

The Ukrainian, who began 2017 with a semi-final in Brisbane, now owns wins over No.1s within the last six months. She defeated Serena Williams at last year’s Rio Olympics, and then Angelique Kerber on two occasions - at the 2016 China Open in Beijing and in Brisbane in January - making her the only player to defeat both reigning No.1s in 2016 and become the first Ukrainian woman ever to defeat a top-ranked player.

Despite falling for the second time in a final within as many weeks, Wozniacki is projected to move to at least No.14 in the WTA Rankings, a position she can further improve upon as she has to defend just 145 points till the US Open.

see also pages 6-7

By Alaric Gomes Senior Reporter

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