The First WTA Dubai Tennis Championships delivered a superb show as Ostapenko battled Kvitova with the Latvian moving on.
It was a battle that lasted almost three hours and it saw Ostapenko come back and win against Kvitova in a match that she could have lost a dozen times. The first set opened superbly for the Latvian who was playing great tennis. Cleaning lines on both sides Ostapenko found herself up 4-1 early. She collapsed after that losing four games in a row.
Kvitova returned better and grew confident in her game which created a lot of trouble for Ostapenko. The Czech player served for the set at 5-4 but lost her serve. She broke Ostapenko once more to take a 6-5 before winning the set with 7-5. Kvitova took an early lead in the 2nd set as well. She was up for the majority of the set but once again when serving for the set she faltered.
Kvitova failed to close out the match at 5-4 with Ostapenko winning 3 games in a row winning the 2nd set with 7-5. The 3rd set opened with Ostapenko having an early 2-0 lead. Kvitova got it back to make it 2-2 and won the crucial 9th game for a 5-4 lead. She once again failed to win the match as Ostapenko battled back once more.
The match was decided in the tiebreak where Kvitova had the early lead but Ostapenko saved a match point to win it 11-9. She converted her 4th match point. A superb match with Ostapenko using quite a bit of luck to escape with this one.