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Svitolina upsets Kerber to reach Dubai final

[February 25, 2017] The Sports Xchange

Seventh-seeded Elina Svitolina upset top seed Angelique Kerber on Friday to move into the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships against No. 10 seed Caroline Wozniacki.

Svitolina of Ukraine advanced over the world No. 2 from Germany for a third straight time -- the second time in 2017 -- with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Wozniacki of Denmark moved past unseeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-3, 6-4 to reach her first final in Dubai since winning the event in 2011.

Svitolina kicked off the season by knocking off Kerber, then ranked No. 1, at the Brisbane International, and beat the two-time Grand Slam champion in one hour and 39 minutes of play that included a rain delay.

"It was really tough," Svitolina said during her on-court interview. "(Kerber) obviously had a medical timeout, so it was in and out all the time. The rain made it even tougher to stay focused, so it was a very tricky match. Hopefully Angelique has nothing serious with her knee and gets better soon."

Standing between Svitolina and the biggest title of her career is Wozniacki, also a former world No. 1. Svitolina won their only previous meeting in three sets.

"We played at the Miami Open last year," said the 22-year-old Svitolina, ranked 13th in the WTA. "It was a very late match, and hopefully this next one will be good as well. I'll give my best and we'll see how it goes."

Wozniacki reached her second final in two weeks. She was a finalist last week at Doha, Qatar, but lost to Karolina Pliskova.

"I really love coming back here and playing on this court," Wozniacki said on court after earning a 22nd career match win in Dubai, the most of any at this event. "It's amazing. The crowd is always supporting me; you guys are amazing and make this tournament special.

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"Being an ambassador for Dubai Duty Free just makes it all the more sweet, playing well here every year. I'm just thrilled to be in another final."

Wozniacki and Sevastova last met in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. Sevastova earned a career-best Grand Slam result but twisted her ankle early on, allowing Wozniacki to ease into her first major semifinal in exactly two years.

The 26-year-old Wozniacki struck 17 winners to 20 from Sevastova but almost half as many unforced errors -- 17 to 31. Wozniacki maintained an impressive 70 percent first serves to clinch victory after one hour and 26 minutes on court.

This will be Wozniacki's 44th career singles final and she has won 25 WTA titles.

"It's been a good couple of weeks for me," Wozniacki, 15th in the WTA rankings, said later in her post-match press conference. "Very happy with how I have been playing. Very happy how I have managed to get through these two weeks, because it's been very tiring mentally. The fact that I have just been staying in there and keep grinding, I'm kind of proud of that."

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