The National's Ahmed Rizvi and Jon Turner are at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships to bring you live reports from the WTA tournament action.
Sara Errani d Madison Brengle 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
In the words of Sara Errani, it was a “really strange match, yes”, and strange sums it up really well.
It was a strange match really. A match where Errani’s count of unforced errors was 50 and her opponent, American Madison Brengle, hit 60, and yet they hit 32 and 31 winners respectively.
Then, there were 17 breaks of serves and only 10 holds, with Errani winning 10 of the 22 break points coming her way and Brengle seven of 17 in a two hour, 22 minute battle where fortunes swung wildly.
In the first set, Brengle fought back from 1-4 to take 6-4. The American was then drubbed 6-1 in the second, but bounced back to take a 4-1 lead in the deciding third set. Then, for reasons best known to her, Brengle decided to call her coach Julie Coin out and the consequences were dire.
The American lost the following five games on the trot to hand Errani a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win and a spot in the semis.
Brengle’s decision to call her coach, then, does seem strange now. For, from a position of dominance, she could win only one point each in the sixth and seventh games and then dropped her serve in the eighth from 40-0. Serving to stay in the match at 4-5, Brengle again could win just one point.
Errani, however, did not rule out doing something similar if there was a need.
“If I feel the need to call him, yes I will,” said Errani, who lost to Petra Kvitova in the 2013 Dubai final. “It’s not a problem. If he has to say something important on your game, yes, I will call him, even if I see that I’m 4-1.
“Sometimes you are 4-1 up, but still not feeling like maybe you are doing the right things. So you want somebody to talk to you to see if you’re doing the good things or not.”
A former world No 5 and a member of the top 10 for two years until she dropped out in March, 2014, Errani probably understands Brengle’s decision-making process better than most. For she has been through the struggle herself in recent times and has now slipped to No 22 in the rankings.
Errani lost both her Fed Cup singles matches earlier this month, and was a first round victim in Brisbane and the Australian Open.
“A tough year for me,” said Errani, who is winning three matches in a row for the first time in 2016. “So just to be in the semi-final for me is an amazing result.”
With all the top stars out of the fray now, Errani will be hoping the “amazing” results keep coming and she goes a step further than 2013.
Errani will face the winner of the day’s last quarter-final between American CoCo Vandeweghe and Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.
Elina Svitolina d CoCo Vandeweghe 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
Elina Svitolina will square off against Errani for a place in the final after defeating CoCo Vandeweghe 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in the quarter-finals.
One of the best servers in the women’s game, Vandeweghe dropped her serve three times in the first set, crucially in the 10th game when she was serving to stay alive.
The American, however, came back strongly in the second set, breaking Svitolina three times, including at love in the seventh game, to wrap up the set in 28 minutes.
In the deciding third set, Vandeweghe broke early in the second game, when Svitolina failed to hold from 40-love, but the 2008 US Open girls’ champ dropped her serve in the next.
Vandeweghe was the broken again in the fifth game, serving a double fault on break point after arguing with the chair umpire for a time violation warning, and the Ukrainian sealed the fate of the match with her third break of the set in the seventh game.
Serving for the set, Svitolina, the world No 21, faced two break points, but turned it around with a sensational pick-up across the court and, seconds later, she was celebrating her place in the last four when Vandeweghe dragged a return into the net.
Barbora Strycova d Ana Ivanovic 7-6, 6-3
Barbora Strycova’s incredible run at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships continued when she booked her place in the semi-finals after a 7-6, 6-3 win over an in-form Ana Ivanovic.
Ivanovic, the world No 17, had looked in imperious form, thrashing Daria Gavrilova in the first round before dumping top seed Simona Halep out of the tournament.
On top of that, Strycova had never won a set against Ivanovic, let alone a match, but the Czech played fearlessly to eliminate the former world No 1.
Strycova will face Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia in the last four on Friday.
Caroline Garcia d Andrea Petkovic 6-3, 6-4
Caroline Garcia is through to the first Premier-level semi-final of her career following a 6-3, 6-4 win over Andrea Petkovic.
Garcia broke Petkovic twice – first in the third game and then in the ninth – to wrap up the opening set in 37 minutes, without facing a break point on her own serve.
The second set saw an early exchange of serves, before the French world No 38 wrapped up the match with a break after an hour and 31 minutes when Petkoic dragged a backhand wide.
Petkovic, who beat Jelena Jankovic the previous night, looked a bit subdued and frequently clutched at her ankle, suggesting she was in some discomfort. Garcia made full use of that, hitting 23 winners to the German’s six.
Rain leads to early-hours Thursday action
DUBAI // There will not be a single seeded player in action on Thursday in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after all eight crashed out of the tournament without winning a match.
The top four seeds – Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, Carla Suarez Navarro and Petra Kvitova – all crashed out on a rain-marred Wednesday after getting first-round byes. The others – No 5 Belinda Bencic, Karolina Pliskova (6), Roberta Vinci (7) and eighth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova – were first-round victims.
Kvitova, who won the first set in a mere 18 minutes, crashed to a 0-6, 7-6, 6-3 loss to world No 60 Madison Brengle in a match that finished in the early hours of Thursday, while Elina Svitolina knocked out Muguruza 7-6, 6-3 in another late one.
Brengle could win just one point in her three service games of the opening set, but the second set was a lot more complicated with both Kvitova and Brengle dropping their serves three times apiece, before the American upped her game in the tie-break to force a deciding third set.
Losing her serve in the third set, Brengle bounced back to break Kvitova twice – in the sixth and eighth games – and booedk her place in the last eighth after a marathon two hour, two minute battle.
In Thursday’s quarter-final, Brengle will meet Sara Errani, the player she beat in the 2013 Dubai final, while Ana Ivanovic, who knocked out top seed and defending champion Simona Halep, will take on Barbora Strycova.
The day’s opening quarter-final will feature Caroline Garcia against Andrea Petkovic, who defeated Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-2 to book her place in the last eight.
Order of play
Centre Court:
Starting at 2pm
Carolina Garcia (FRA) v Andrea Petkovic (GER)
Sara Errani (ITA) v Madison Brengle (USA)
Not before 7pm:
CoCo Vandeweghe (USA) v Elina Svitolina (SRB)
Ana Ivanovic (SRB) v Barbora Strycova (CZE)
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