Round of sixteen matches in Dubai:
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships - a WTA Premier 5 category tournament, on Hard Decoturf, in Dubai, UAE, 17-23 February 2019.
Defending champion:
Elina Svitolina who defeated Dasha Kasatkina 6-4 6-0
Round of sixteen
- Belinda Bencic v Aryna Sabalenka (8)
Sabalenka served first, and after losing the opening point cruised through the remainder of the game, albeit throwing in a double fault. The backhand down the line to seal a 1-0 lead was impressive.
A Bencic error and a double fault saw her down 0-30, but she fought back to 30-30. A lucky net cord and game point. A second double fault and the first deuce. Sabalenka hit a forehand winner at the net which nearly destroyed the ball but the resulting break point was saved.
A Swiss forehand winner for a second game point was spoiled by a poor next attempt from that side. Second break point after a third double fault, and Sabalenka failed to convert again.
Two successive Bencic forehand winners finally ended the game, and it was 1-1.
Sabalenka had 40-0, but fine returning from Bencic brought it back to deuce. A sensational backhand winner and break point for Bencic. Saved by a big Belarusian serve. Double fault and second break point.
Another brilliant return and Bencic broke to lead 2-1.
A quick consolidation for 3-1
Sabalenka was committing a stack of unforced errors and was broken again, this time to love, trailing now 1-4. From 40-0, Bencic allowed Sabalenka back, including the contribution of two more double faults. Deuce. Service eventually held, two clean winners for show.
A swift hold for Sabalenka and 2-5.
Bencic failed in her attempt to serve out the set, Sabalenka finally producing the tennis expected of her.
The second try was better, when at 5-4, Bencic gathered up two set points. Sabalenka saved one with a vicious winner, but a wayward shot next point saw Bencic take a 6-4 advantage.
The match had begun to swing toward Sabalenka towards the end of set one and that trend continued in the second set.
The eighth seed broke to lead 2-0, and her serving stats improved as the match proceeded. Bencic had only a single opening to possibly break through the Sabalenka delivery but that vanished.
Sabalenka was all of a sudden leading 5-2, and Bencic couldn’t hold to stay in the set which went to Belarus 6-2 and forced a decider.
Set three began well for Sabalenka early as she took the lead with a service break to lead 3-1. Bencic struck back immediately, forcing Sabalenka into error on the fifth break point of the fifth game. The Belarusian will rue the double faults at inopportune moments when trying to consolidate her advantage there.
Bencic ran her opponent all round the court to achieve 30-0, but all that came undone with a Sabalenka forehand winner and a double fault. A game point arrived after an attacking Bencic approach finished with a winning forehand, and the service hold levelled things at 3-3.
After holding serve comfortably, Sabalenka hit winners from both wings, providing her with two break points, one saved through a Bencic forehand winner. An unlucky roll off a net cord, forcing the ball out, produced the service break, and Sabalenka would serve for the match. 5-3.
Sabalenka began with a magic backhand winner, but then a deep return from Bencic was too much to handle 15-15. A blistering return winner and 15-30. A big serve the perfect reply. A forehand winner brought up the first match point but it was squashed by a forehand winner of the Swiss kind. A wide forehand and a double fault and Sabalenka dropped serve to keep Bencic in the fight.
No more service breaks and a tie break was required. However not as simple as that may sound. In the tenth game, from 40-0, Bencic was forced to deuce four times, and had to save another two match points.
At 5-6, another match point was saved en route to the service hold.
One of the commentators observed that the match was deserving of a deciding set tie break. Which is rubbish. The tremendous match was actually deserving of finishing to advantage, not via a basic sprint which virtually wipes out all of the excellent tennis contested in sets one, two and twelve games of set three. A lucky point here or there in the first to seven with a two point break would decide this match - not the true way to decide a winner, but that’s the method we are burdened with in the modern era.
The first three points went against serve, and Sabalenka was the player to break that sequence. Bencic evened things when she won the ninth point on the Sabalenka serve. At 5-5, each player served a double fault, Sabalenka’s when she had match point. At 7-6, Sabalenka had her 6th match point, but not on her serve. It was saved, and at 7-8, Sabalenka faced match point for the very first time. She had the serve, but when a backhand sailed long, Belinda Bencic had pulled victory out of the fire.
6-4 2-6 7-6(7) and into the quarter finals.
Almost eighty winners between the two players is testament to how entertaining the match was - one of the best this year.
- Carla Suárez Navarro defeated Kiki Mladenovic 7-5 7-5
- Elina Svitolina (6) defeated Garbiñe Muguruza (12) 6-1 6-2
- Simona Halep (3) defeated Lesia Tsurenko 6-3 7-5
- Su-Wei Hsieh defeated Angie Kerber (5) 5-7 6-4 6-0
- Karolina Pliskova (4) defeated Alison Riske 7-6(3) 7-6(5)
- Viktoria Kuzmova defeated Sofia Kenin 1-6 7-5 6-2
- Petra Kvitová (2) defeated qualifier Jennifer Brady 7-5 1-6 6-3
Quarter final match ups
Carla Suárez Navarro v Elina Svitolina (6)
Simona Halep (3) v Belinda Bencic
Su-Wei Hsieh v Karolina Pliskova (4)
Viktoria Kuzmova v Petra Kvitová (2)
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