DUBAI // Angelique Kerber’s hopes of reclaiming the No 1 ranking by the end of this week were dealt a cruel blow on Friday by an injured knee and a determined Elina Svitolina across the net. The Ukrainian won their semi-final duel in straight sets to set up a finale against Caroline Wozniacki.
Kerber, who came here as the world No 2 trailing Serena Williams by 665 points in the rankings, would have been back at No 1 if she had won the final. A Premier 5 tournament this year, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title is worth 900 points.
A knee injury put a damper on her hopes, but Kerber was unwilling to give up. Hobbling, she fought back from 2-5 down in the second set, winning four games on the trot, but Svitolina eventually prevailed in the tiebreak winning 6-3, 7-6.
“I don’t know what’s with my knee now, but I feel pain a little bit,” Kerber said. “Yeah, but in the end, I tried my best. This is how I am, and I’m always trying my best until the end.
“This was, for sure, not the best day for me, but I will try to forget this match as soon as possible and take the positives from this tournament — that I found my rhythm again, that I was able to come back and play good tennis again, win matches against good players. This is what counts for me.”
Kerber’s determination to keep fighting, despite the pain, did cause some confusion across the net. Svitolina described it as a bit of a “roller coaster”.
“She started the match very good … everything was fine,” said Svitolina, who while winning the title in Taipei City is now on an 11-match winning streak and will break into the Top 10 for the first time if she beats Wozniacki in the final on Saturday.
“In the second set, she was struggling a little bit with the knee, but then she played well again and then she again didn’t run for all the balls. It was very, very strange for me, so I couldn’t really get my rhythm. That’s why it was very difficult for me to focus and to play all the time my best.”
Wozniacki, making her sixth successive appearance in the semis here, was always in control against Anastasija Sevastova, a tricky opponent who had reached the last eight at the US Open last year and climbed from No 113 to No 31 in 2016.
A finalist in Doha last week, Wozniacki broke for 5-3 and then served out for the first set. In the second set, she survived from love-40 in the sixth game after going a break up, and though Sevastova levelled the scores at 4-4, the 2011 Dubai champion broke back immediately and served out for the match, signing off with an ace.
“Very happy how I have managed to get through these two weeks, because it’s been very tiring mentally,” said Wozniacki, who will be making her second appearance in a final here. “The fact that I have just been staying in there and keep grinding, I’m kind of proud of that.”
Wozniacki, however, is not done yet. Having lost to Karolina Pliskova in the Qatar Open final last week, she is hoping to go one better.
“It would mean a lot,” said Wozniacki, who has lost her only previous match against Svitolina, in Miami last year. “It’s a big tournament. I love playing here. I have been playing really well the last years I have played here. I think they said — what, six semi-finals? Six semis and a win?
“That’s a pretty good record, and to have a finals here again, it just feels good. Hopefully I can take one more and then take a well-deserved little break.”
arizvi@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport