Elina Svitolina had a comfortable victory in her return to Doha at the Qatar Total Open Wednesday night. Misaki Doi was held back long enough for the top seed to win 6-1, 6-2 on centre court at the Khalifa International Tennis Centre.
This marked a third time in action between the two and the first to come on hard courts. Six years ago, the Ukrainian bested Doi in a tough three-setter at Wimbledon. Since that time, the world number five honed her skills in her best aspect to prepare for her opening round. Doi’s warm-up round with Saisai Zheng proved favorable in a straight-set result. With some experience with Svitolina, the 29-year-old needed her best to pull off an early upset at the tournament.
The number one seed opened up the match with a full speed of momentum, taking the first two games swiftly. With a break in hand, Svitolina committed a pair of errors in the third but contained the service with an ace on the final point. The 26-year-old got a jump on Doi’s service game, but let her in on an error and some good forehands from the Japanese star. She overcame the deficit to force deuce, waiting patiently before Svitolina erred to secure the hold. She had one good point against the Ukrainian, answering with a lob that the top seed couldn’t get to. In the end, the fifth game remained in the grip of Svitolina taking a 4-1 lead.
She consolidated with a break as Doi suffered a double fault in the sixth allowing the number one seed to serve out the set, though she gave up two points, Svitolina quickly put an end to the first in 25 minutes. The second serve was the big upset for Doi, who won just one of eight points played from it. While Svitolina didn’t have many winners, it was her overall play that kept her in control.
A fourth double fault got Doi into trouble as she opened the second set, but turned things around to save breakpoints and force deuce. Despite her fight, Svitolina forced Doi to run for the ball, taking her out of contention to hold, giving the Ukrainian the break. The 29-year-old struck back with good movement, producing breakpoints on Svitolina. Playing every ball helped her break back in the second, looking to consolidate on serve.
Doi trailed once again on serve but fought off the breakpoints to force deuce. Her efforts were stopped by the Ukrainian, who waited for her moment to strike out the break and move ahead. Good court placement allowed Svitolina to comfortably hold in the fourth over Doi, who struggled to keep up. A rally on the first point of the sixth game went more than 20 shots, with the Ukrainian placing the winner down the line. Svitolina went on to score the double break with just two games standing between her and a quarterfinal spot.
The groundstrokes pummeled Doi to another shutout for Svitolina, who played for it with the Japanese serving to stay alive. The 29-year-old used her left forehand to force errors on Svitolina that earned her the service hold. While it stood out as her best game of the match, the inevitable was with Svitolina, who served in the eight for the match. She forced an error on Doi before getting to the ball, launching a winner back. A crosscourt brought up match point, but Doi saved it with an easy return.
The top seed’s second attempt brought it to an end winning it in one hour. She had 26 winners and only ten unforced errors, showing that her game was in tip-top shape. “I’m really happy with my performance today,” Svitolina said during her on-court interview. “and I’m happy to be back here.”
She’ll go into the quarterfinal facing Victoria Azarenka who she played doubles with this week and will try to etch out her first win against her after three meetings. “It’s gonna be an exciting match,” said the top seed. “We enjoy sharing a court together so tomorrow we won’t be on the same side so it’s gonna be an exciting match and I’m looking forward to that.”
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