Elina Svitolina had another long night on court but got through to the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship Tuesday night. The defending champion went the distance for a second time against Qiang Wang but held firm in the final set to win 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 on Centre Court at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium.
The two were meeting almost a year later when the 25-year-old Chinese player nearly eliminated the world number three early at the BNP Paribas Open. The Ukrainian had the experience to get out of trouble and maintain her stance in the tournament. With a title defense in play the 23-year-old getting a bye allows her plenty of rest time and focus to try and come out of the second round a winner.
She dictated the first three games against Wang before a chance at the double break went south. Wang needed a big hold and got it against the Ukrainian to end the shutout but watched the world number four go back to her winning style. Svitolina launched shots off her forehand that regained her three-game lead showing tremendous accuracy. The Ukrainian coasted to victory picking up the next pair of games to win the set in 27 minutes. Despite having two double faults and eight unforced errors, her first serve percentage of 73 percent held together to limit the small issues.
She began the second set allowing Wang some breathing room to complete the hold of serve. When the number one seed got the ball, she pressured the 25-year-old into creating errors that leveled the score. Wang swept off the loss and built together her first serve to love against Svitolina in the third to make a statement of her fight. She pulled off a break in the fourth as Svitolina racked up another double fault that followed with Wang consolidating a hold to lead for the first time.
The pace remained in her hands as she earned her first double break of the match taking control of the set against the top seed. Svitolina was rattled with 16 errors through six games that led to yet another victory for Wang. The need to turn things around came for the Ukrainian to hold off the set from ending putting together a strong stance on her serve.
A chance to break back came right after with Wang down two points handing Svitolina another with a return into the net. The opportunities were running out for Wang who had one chance to rein in Svitolina to close out the set. She did that with an error to start the ninth leading to a show of frustration with her racket. The next rally saw both defending their answers until a return to keep the ball in failed. She handed Wang two set points but saved them on an error from the Chinese star before ending a long rally with a line drive winner.
As deuce went into play, it saw the players get deep into a 32-shot rally that ended with a lucky hit off the net that landed just inside Svitolina’s end to bring Wang the AD point. Svitolina saved a third set point and blew her own chance to send the set forward. After a couple of breaks, the Ukrainian held on to stay alive giving her a shot at regaining the momentum to hold straight sets against Wang.
The 11th was huge as the players extended the game over eight minutes and four breaks. It came down to the smallest of errors from Svitolina that gave Wang the victory and one more shot at getting a third set into play. The Ukrainian served to force a tiebreaker building up three points before losing them all to go to deuce.
With Wang setting up a fourth set point, Svitolina faltered with another shot into the net killing her moment to end the night early and instead extend her time on court. It took 54 minutes for Wang to get it done serving better than the first while the Ukrainian got sloppy with 26 errors and three double faults. With their last match coming into the mind of Svitolina, she had more than one fight on her hands with the deciding set in action.
She handed Wang a defeat on serve in the opening game followed by a hold to lead well. She had a double break in hand with a triple break point but it all turned around for Wang who forced deuce with an ace. After three breaks, the leverage went back to Wang who held in the third to get into the set. While it was one serve that the 25-year-old accomplished, Svitolina added a win to her name holding together in the fourth that put her halfway from accomplishing the mission.
A big double break was won by the world number four that gave her plenty of room to finish things off on her terms. The three-game margin brought Peter McNamarra back on court to speak with Wang and keep her focused. She came out down 0-40 quickly but gained back the break points to force deuce in the sixth. After four tough breaks, it was the defending champion holding together to lead 5-1 putting Wang on notice.
New balls were in play for the Chinese star with Svitolina answering with a body shot. She fought back to save a break and force deuce but couldn’t contain the AD point handing Wang another win. With the ball in hand, the Ukrainian dictated the seventh game winning on her terms during her second try that gave her the win in 2 hours and 10 minutes. It wasn’t the best from the world number four as she committed over 53 unforced errors but had a numerous number of winners to contain her serve percentage against Wang.
“It was a great match from her,” Svitolina said about her opponent after the match. “I think she was playing quite solid throughout the match. I was trying to find my game going for too much maybe but I was trying to feel the court in my first match back here. I’m very pleased the way I played in the end.”
She’ll prepare for her quarterfinal match against Naomi Osaka who she has a history playing against. “She’s a very aggressive player,” said Svitolina. “I played against her a couple of times so well see how it will go. It will be a good match and I’ll try to bring my best game.”
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