Elina Svitolina finds her form at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship

Elina Svitolina celebrates on court during her first-round match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship.

Elina Svitolina found her comfort zone in her return to the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships Tuesday. The Ukrainian had some trying times from Mayar Sherif but came through in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 on centre court at the Dubai Tennis Stadium. It was the strongest win for the Ukrainian this season in a tournament she played well at. 

The two-time champion of the tournament was back for her eighth appearance in the desert, hoping to find comfort and get her game back on track. Her run in Australia lasted five matches where she made no significant success as the then world number five. As the world number 15, the 27-year-old looked to take it a grain of salt at a time against the Egyptian and feel out the first set. 

The Ukrainian opened with a serve to love in the first before Sherif responded in the second. The Egyptian made good of her service to keep Svitolina off her back and hold the tenth seed back. Sherif became a challenge for Svitolina, who saw her force deuce but gained the AD point quick to end it. She made a statement in the fourth with a break before backing it up back on serve. 

Sherif scored a serve to love in the sixth, but the deficit continued to grow for the tenth seed, who had another good service game to lead 5-2. Svitolina went after the set on Sherif’s service, producing set point only to see it get brushed off with a net-front lob return from the Egyptian. An error from her end brought up a second set point for the tenth seed, who was again denied victory. After playing five breaks and fighting off three AD points for Sherif, Svitolina found the one to get the job done and seal the set up in 40 minutes. 

Sherif had 19 unforced errors but bettered the Ukrainian on winners and no double faults. Despite having had two, the tenth seed sat a set up and would go for more. She did just that in the second set, holding the Egyptian to a point. They got into a heavy contest in the second when the 25-year-old overcame a 40-15 deficit to force deuce on serve. She went four breaks and stopped the third breakpoint, but the fourth stayed in the hands of Svitolina. 

She made her pay for the time spent in the second and smashed her way, with only a point going to the Egyptian. Svitolina kept up the attack with breakpoint chances that Sherif tried to defend. The 25-year-old stopped one but the second-handed Svitolina the double break and a 4-0 run. When it looked as if the tenth seed would march forward, her game went silent, and committed two double faults. It gave Sherif a break to love, getting her on the board, with a chance to back it up on serve. 

She did just that in the sixth, digging into her service to cut into Svitolina’s lead. The Ukrainian knew she couldn’t let another service slip away and played laser-focused tennis to jump up 5-2. The Egyptian served to stay in the set but hit a couple shots long in the eighth. She handed Svitolina a match point but saved it on a middle court forehand winner. They went to deuce for two breaks where a long return from the tenth seed kept Sherif in the action. 

With the ball in hand to serve for the match, Svitolina felt the pressure to close it out. With a long ball from Sherif that forced deuce, the tenth seed gained an opportunity on a wide return from her opponent that brought up a second match point. The 27-year-old ended a six-shot rally, watching the ball land long of the baseline to end her day in 1 hour and 27 minutes. 

“It’s always tricky to play someone you have never played before,” said Svitolina. “I was expecting a tough battle today, and I think there were lots of long rallies and played some good points, so in the end, it was a good match.”