Iga Swiatek
defeated
Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-2 in the third round of the Dubai Duty Free
Tennis Championships. The recent champion at the Qatar Open won her sixth
consecutive match in the Middle East, all in straight sets, and now awaits the
winner of the match between Anastasia Potapova (No. 35) and Qinwen Zheng (No.
7).
The
Ukrainian entered as the 15th seed and progressed in her previous rounds by
defeating Anhelna Kalnina and Tatjana Maria, both in straight sets. Svitolina
won their most recent encounter with Swiatek in the fourth round at the 2023
Wimbledon in three sets.
The Polish
tennis player put aside her inconsistent performance against Sloane Stephens
the day before, and in the first set, she showed no issues with her service.
Swiatek had a 71% first serve percentage and won 71% of them, crucial to not
facing any break points against her during the set.
Svitolina
only defended her first service game, but then came a consecutive string of
games for Swiatek, who seized two of the three break opportunities to take a
6-1 lead in just 29 minutes.
The world
No. 1 maintained the streak of consecutive games won and was 2-0 up at the
start of the second set, securing another break in her first opportunity.
Svitolina didn't give up and won a game again for the first time since the
second game of the first set. The 29-year-old athlete surprised Swiatek by
breaking in the next game and leveling the set 2-2.
The serve
was a challenge for both players during the second set. They each
secured a new break and were tied at 4-4, a crucial moment when Swiatek got the
decisive break. Seizing her first opportunity, the 4-times Grand Slam champion
moved ahead 5-4. Serving to close out the set, Swiatek had to save a break
point against her before securing the set and finishing the match 6-1, 6-4.
Although the Polish player encountered some service issues
in the latter part of the match, Swiatek remained dominant against an opponent
who played well but simply couldn't overcome the world No. 1. Swiatek now
awaits the winner of the clash between Anastasia Potapova (No. 35) and Zheng
Qinwen (No. 7).
