Elina Svitolina handled the situation that had its up and downs at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship Thursday. The number one seed came back to hold Naomi Osaka for a straight sets victory 6-2, 6-4 on Centre Court at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium. The Ukrainian ended a two-match losing streak against the Japanese star to continue her title defense and a spot in the semifinals.
This was the fourth meeting between the two players with the need to regain the series lead. The 23-year-old Ukrainian has only beaten the Japanese heavy hitter once dating back to 2014. Their last two going back two seasons saw Osaka take control of the up and comer defeating her at the Australian Open second round and at Tokyo later on. While times have changed slightly Svitolina could find herself in trouble if she couldn’t handle the competition better than she did against Wang on Wednesday.
Right off the bat, the number one seed earned a break on Osaka but got into a pickle playing her own serve on deuce. After two breaks, Svitolina got it under control to open her lead on the 20-year-old. A double break came to the hands of the top seed that brought out Osaka’s coach Sascha Bajin to speak with her about remedying the situation of having too many unforced errors while her opponent didn’t create one winner through three games.
Despite the lack of heavy offense, the set remained in the hands of Svitolina who had Osaka on the ropes with a 4-0 run. The Japanese star almost had a lock down on her serve in the fifth but a slip of control let the Ukrainian take over forcing deuce to capture the triple break and a near flawless set in reach. A big break for the 20-year-old saved her from the bagel putting her big returns in play to beat Svitolina at her game. The comeback returned for Osaka having a 40-0 run before holding two game points to win her second straight.
The struggle was a lot for the world number four to deal with as Osaka found ways of fighting for a third win by forcing deuce. They went three breaks that went past the eight-minute mark until the Ukrainian found her second point attempt enough to come out of the set a winner completing 37 minutes. It was only the fifth of match for her carrying a serve percentage near 70. Osaka gave up enough leverage with her four double faults and 20 unforced errors but improvements came at the tail end of the set.
With Osaka picking up the pace with an improvement to her offense, the sweep that Svitolina had early would be minimal going forward. The top seed almost had a break chance in the opening game of the second set but a mistake on ball placement gave Osaka a shot at starting things to her own terms. She got it done on an unforced error from her opponent taking a new approach to the match. A break gave her a 2-0 lead showing force in her returns that had the Ukrainian in trouble early. She was down 3-0 as the possibility of a three setter was running through her mind.
She managed to gain back some momentum with a hold of serve in the fourth but couldn’t bring together a break in the next game. The serve of the number one seed remained on lock but the gap stayed in favor of Osaka who was more than ready to set up a pivotal third deciding set. Svitolina had other ideas as she achieved her first break of the set closing the gap on the 20-year-old with the hope of turning the tables while the opportunity sat there. Coach Andrew Bettles came out during the break to keep Svitolina in check telling her to commit to secure her way to a tie in the eighth. Osaka threatened to put a stop to it in the eighth but after two breaks on deuce, she let the comeback become a reality for the 23-year-old. She reached a break chance in the ninth smashing a winner on the second break of deuce to gain back the lead serving for the match. Bajin came out to try and keep Osaka’s sprits up as she was just about ready to quit the effort now playing the stay in the match.
Svitolina dictated the tenth game on her own terms giving Osaka just two points before ending it in straight sets for the first time since their first match back in 2014. It took her just 1 hour 22 minutes to get the job done showing a lot more composure under pressure to come out victorious against the 20-year-old power hitter. “I was just trying to play till the last point and fight for every point,” Svitolina said after the match. “She doesn’t give many opportunities but I took it in the second set and I’m very happy.”
She’ll face the winner between Karolina Pliskova and Angelique Kerber who are tough competitors on Friday. “I played against both of them and I know that what they do and how they play so definitely will be a good match to the final.”
No comments:
Post a Comment