Elina Svitolina enjoyed the victory she earned at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday. The 15th seed managed her service game to fend off Tatjana Maria in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 on Court Three at the Dubai Tennis Stadium. It was the first time in five years the Ukrainian earned consecutive matches at the tournament.
The two met for the fourth time, the first in six years dating back to the US Open. The Ukrainian returned to Dubai ready to take on the challenges, forced to a second-set tiebreak against Anhelina Kalinina. Her experience got her out of going the distance against her compatriot while brushing off the rust from her back injury. The German struggled to put wins together as pairs or better. Facing top 20 players she won just once since September of last year, giving Svitolina a chance to win back-to-back matches in the tournament since 2019.
Elina opened the service in the second round, giving Maria a point before holding the service. The 36-year-old followed along, establishing her offense against the 15th seed. Svitolina coasted through the third, with Maria right behind her holding on. The fifth game was the first to see the competition end, with Maria trying to force deuce. Svitolina won the critical point to deny the German that chance and remain on serve.
The Ukrainian took advantage of a window of opportunity when Maria suffered a double fault after landing an ace. Svitolina charged forward to gain the break and lead 4-2, backing up the service on errors from the German. Maria got back on track in the seventh, containing the serve to deny Svitolina the set. The 29-year-old got it done on serve in the ninth, scoring an ace along the way to taking the set in 28 minutes on a long ball return from Maria. The two had strong first-serve output, but the second-serve of Maria’s struggled to produce.
She put that aside and got into a battle in the second set, fighting off a break from Svitolina. Maria forced deuce on serve, but the 15th seed got a grip of the AD point to take the win away. The German made her pay for the change in action on the court, breaking back in the second. Svitolina chose to stick to the pace and attain a double break in response. The 15th seed got her offense back in check, tying a service hold with the double break in the fourth.
Maria also returned to holding serve in the match, cutting Svitolina off from forcing deuce. Control remained with the 15th seed after six games, where she held to double the margin against the German. Maria was under threat in the seventh, denying the Ukrainian an early chance to break. On deuce, the 36-year-old fended off four breaks before clinching the service. She rallied to a pair of break points on Svitolina’s serve, only to see the Ukrainian recover all of them. It was a tug of war for the AD point until Svitolina fired an ace to make it 5-3 and play for the match.
Svitolina finished strong, gaining two break points for the match, and ended with one remaining. A battle on one end of the court finished with Maria returning wide to end the match in 1 hour and 12 minutes. The Ukrainian’s serve was well-rounded from start to finish, earning a place in the third round where she’ll await the winner between Sloane Stephens and world number one Iga Swiatek.
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