Svitolina poised for top 10 breakthrough with Dubai last-eight victory
DUBAI: Elina Svitolina queued up a possible breakthrough into a firsttime top 10 ranking as she reached the semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Thursday with a 6-0, 6-4 defeat of Lauren Davis.
The seventh seed, currently ranked 13th and winner of a fifth career title this month in Taipei, will line up on Friday against either top seed Angelique Kerber or Croatian Ana Konjuh after those two meet in a quarterfinal at the Aviation club.
Kerber can regain the WTA top ranking from Serena Williams with a trophy performance on Saturday after losing the top honour after the American won the Australian Open.
“I’m really happy the way I started and the way I finished the match, I was being very aggressive and it worked really good,” said Svitolina. “I was calm and positive today. I’m really happy with the performance.
“I was expecting she would do something different after losing 0-6 — it’s always tough. I was expecting her to come back to the game.”
“I was trying to stick to my plan and stay really positive. I knew that there would be some up-and-downs, but I tried to do more, more effort from my side so I didn't lose my focus too much.”
Latvian Anastasija Sevastova put out the week's last Chinese hope, defeating Wang Qiang 6-4, 7-5 as the Asian lost her first sets of the week.
Sevastova will wait for an opponent from 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki and teenaged American CiCi Bellis, who upset 2012 champion and fourth seed Agnieszka Radwandka in the third round.
“We congratulate Anastasija Sevastova on reaching the semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships,” said Colm McLoughlin, executive vice chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free, the tournament owners and organizers. “She was forced to retire from professional tennis in 2013 due to injury and took up leisure management studies before returning to the WTA Tour in 2015. We are delighted that her return to the game has been so successful and wish her well for the future.”
Tournament director Salah Tahlak added, “We have an intriguing mix of both experienced competitors and rising stars of the game as we get ever closer to dis- covering who our 2017 champion will be. It is certain to be a fascinating finale to the week as we wait to see who can emerge as the winner. We have many top players competing in the doubles too, including the legendary Martina Hingis as well as Olympic champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, free to watch on the outside courts.”