Elina Svitolina got out of some trouble to win big at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Tuesday night. The world number 13 carried herself into the second set hold back any further attacks by China’s Saisai Zheng to win 7-5, 6-1 on Centre Court at Dubai Tennis Stadium to reach the third round.
The recent winner at the Taiwan Open got back into action for the first time in a week now facing Zheng. Though they never met before, the Chinese star was a dangerous player who could bring her best against the seventh seed making her third appearance in the tournament. The skills of the Ukrainian would have to warm up fast as the 23 year old Chinese athlete has been in action the last three matches leading to the second round matchup.
It didn’t seem to help her as she fired off shots only to see Svitolina dominate them on the return. The Ukrainian got onto service in the second playing solid tennis that began to take a Zheng down a peg. By the time four games had elapsed, the Chinese star struggled and racked up the unforced errors giving Svitolina the runaway. Zheng attempted to change things up in the fifth in an act of desperation that produced her first win on serve.
The Chinese star consolidated another win in the sixth that made it look as if she had a grip in the set and vied for the comeback. Svitolina put all of those hopes away as she broke Zheng in the seventh going up 5-2. The Ukrainian saw another challenge from her opponent trailing on the score in the eighth. She had a chance to force deuce with a pop fly but her smash attempt landed wide of the line handing Zheng another victory.
She began to threaten with another service hold that had her a game down well within reach of forcing the set forward. The nerves began to rattle Svitolina who committed double faults on serve getting into a hole fast. It led to a complete turnaround that had Zheng carrying all the momentum. The seventh seed had to regroup quickly and gain back control by any means. She started the 11th with a strong response on the return that gave her a shot at getting the set over and done with on serve.
Despite the adversity Zheng carried, Svitolina managed to get a second important win that closed out the set in her favor that took 44 minutes to complete. Svitolina wanted to forget what came from the set struggling on the second serve and the two double faults in tow. The fact that she was a set up gave her confidence that she could bounce back and give it all going into the second.
She did in fact just that taking every game in stride to start with a break of Zheng. In the second, Svitolina lit up on the service to get a 2-0 lead and things rolling. The margin of victory became four very fast as the seventh seed wanted to finish strong and prevent any problems from getting the better of her. Zheng broke the monotony on court and won a service game in the fifth to end the shutout.
It wasn’t enough to change the course of events as Svitolina took the next two games in dominating fashion where she reached three match points to see the final return land wide of the court ending the match in 69 minutes. “I let her get into the match a little bit but I was just trying to be focused on my game and to hit as many balls over the net as I could and just put a little bit of pressure on her return so I’m really happy that I finished the first set and the second was pretty solid performance,” Svitolina said after the match. “It’s always fun to play lots of points,” she said about the pace with Zheng “I was just trying to chase every ball and she was moving really good and seeing the ball good so it was really entertaining and I enjoyed it.”
Svitolina will face American Christina McHale in the third round in what should be expected to have similar traits in their match. “She’s a solid player,” Svitolina said. “I will try to bring my game and play my best.”
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