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 [February 21, 2024]
No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka lost another match to an old
nemesis on Tuesday, with Donna Vekic of Croatia topping the two-time
Grand Slam champion 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-0 in the second round of the
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday.
For Vekic, it was her sixth win in eight matches against the
Belarusian since 2016, but she needed to come from a set and a break
down to advance in two hours, 22 minutes.
Vekic trailed 2-0 to start the second set, but then broke Sabalenka
twice in the set to rally and tie the match. The Croatian won the
final three games of the second set, then shut out Sabalenka in the
third, winning 26 of 38 total points.
On the day, Vekic capitalized on seven of 10 break chances and hit
14 aces. Up next for Vekic is Sorana Cirstea of Romania, who ousted
No. 13 seed Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 6-1, 6-4.
Meanwhile, No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland took care of business in
her opener in the United Arab Emirates, defeating Sloane Stephens
6-4, 6-4. Swiatek, who won the title last week in Doha, is bidding
for her eighth career WTA 1000 championship.
She has won 23 of her past 24 matches since her loss in Tokyo last
October, beaten only by Czech teenager Linda Noskova in the third
round of the Australian Open last month.
"I had a lot of positivity in my mind. But for sure, Sloane played
really well," Swiatek said. "We both had many games with deuces and
break points that we couldn't convert. Because of that, it was a
really interesting match."
The next challenger for Swiatek is Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who
defeated Germany's Tatjana Maria on Tuesday. Svitolina, the No. 15
seed, defeated Swiatek in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last
summer. Svitolina is a two-time Dubai champion.
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No. 3 seed Coco Gauff had a breezy first set before
finishing off Italian foe Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-1, 7-5,
converting eight of 10 break-point opportunities along the way. Her
next opponent, the Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova, rallied past
Ashlyn Krueger 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4.
No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan advanced to
the third round when Victoria Azarenka of Belarus retired an injury
after the players split the first two sets.
Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, the No. 7 seed from the
Czech Republic, advanced by defeating Peyton Stearns 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
for the third time in the past eight months. She will face Russian
Liudmila Samsonova, the No. 12 seed, who moved on in a walkover
after countrywoman Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova withdrew due to illness.
No. 8 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece topped Emma Navarro 6-2, 6-4 and
will take on Italy's Jasmine Paolini in the next round. Paolini
defeated Canada's Leylah Fernandez 6-3, 6-4.
Magdalena Frech of Poland will meet Rybakina in the third round
after defeating Croatia's Petra Martic 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.
Tuesday's other winners were No. 6 seed Qinwen Zheng of China, No. 9
seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and unseeded Russians Anastasia
Potapova and Anna Kalinskaya.
--Field Level Media
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