2018 Dubai Tennis Championships - WTA Premier

Who will win in Dubai?

  • Svitolina

    Votes: 2 50.0%

  • Muguruza

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Pliskova

    Votes: 1 25.0%

  • Ostapenko

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Garcia

    Votes: 1 25.0%

  • Kerber

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Konta

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Mladenovic

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Kvitova

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other?

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    4
  • Poll closed .
Epic week for Kasatkina.

Konta led 6-4 3-1 and had two match points in the 2nd set tiebreak but Kasatkina managed to win.
Muguruza led 6-3 5-4 serving for the match and had three match points (also in the 2nd set tiebreak) but Kasatkina managed to win.

To make the final she's had to beat
#32 Radwanska
#12 Konta
#23 Vesnina
#3 Muguruza

Now playing #4 Svitolina for her 2nd career title. This is her 3rd tour final, all 3 have been Premier tournaments. She's also made 3 doubles finals, all 3 of those were Premier as well. She seems to thrive at Premier tournaments.
 
Meanwhile in Budapest:

SF's:
(#1) Cibulkova v Barthel
(LL) Kuzmova v Van Uytvanck

Kuzmova had match points in qualifying but lost to Bonaventure. She got into the main draw as a lucky loser though and hasn't dropped a set with great wins over Cirstea, Lisicki and Martic. She's just 19 years old, was the 2016 US Open girls runner up. One to watch?

Domi looking to win her first title since the 2016 WTA Finals.
 
SystemicAnomaly said:
Will the Age of the -ova and -ovic succumb to the dawning of the Age of the -ina?

When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the Age of -ina

(A tasty treat awarded to the first to identify this reference)
Click to expand...
Let the Ina shine! Let the Ina shine!
 
Aussie Darcy said:
Epic week for Kasatkina.

Konta led 6-4 3-1 and had two match points in the 2nd set tiebreak but Kasatkina managed to win.
Muguruza led 6-3 5-4 serving for the match and had three match points (also in the 2nd set tiebreak) but Kasatkina managed to win.

To make the final she's had to beat
#32 Radwanska
#12 Konta
#23 Vesnina
#3 Muguruza

Now playing #4 Svitolina for her 2nd career title. This is her 3rd tour final, all 3 have been Premier tournaments. She's also made 3 doubles finals, all 3 of those were Premier as well. She seems to thrive at Premier tournaments.
Click to expand...
That has to be a huge confidence builder for her. Fighting off a total of 5 match points to win those 2 matches. She's looked great.

Svitolina has looked a little shaky IMO, although I didn't see her match today, looked like she handled Kerber easily. But that seems to be a matchup that suits her (won that last 5 in a row).
 
Interesting to note that both double pairings in the Final consist of CHN/TPE pairing. Great to see that politics is set aside in sports.
 
A bit offtopic question: livetennisrankings has 5 weeks rankings that shows how many points drop off for the players in the coming weeks. For WTA it currently displays that several players (Kasatkina, Sevastova, Gavrilova etc) will gain points between weeks 4 and 5 (for example in Kasatkina's case points suddenly go 2290 -> 2336). This is some calculation error by ltr website, isn't it? Or am I missing some logic here?
 
Svitolina took the first set 6-4. A few UE from DK. DK's coach, Philippe Dehaes, was called during the changeover. Basically told her to be brave and take some decisions to end some points. Told her that's she's playing against one of the best defender in the game. DK said her feet are like 'bubbles'.
 
Svitolina d Kasatkina 6-4,6-0. Impressive game from Svitolina. I haven't watched many of her matches, but I'm beginning to see why she beats Kerber over and over again.

Svitolina is one of the best, if not the best defender in WTA. She also moves around the court really well, better than Kerber. And lastly, she has weapons on both sides that allows her to pull the trigger at will.

She also has great feel on the court, create angles often and hits really deep in general - often painting lines. Superb athlete.

Congrats on defending her Dubai title.
 
Last edited:
spystud said:
Is this $125K at IW next week new? Don't remember it before.

http://www.wtatennis.com/tournament/2018-indian-wells-125k-usa-1103
Click to expand...
I don't recall this either. First year?

http://oraclechallengerseries.com/

"The Oracle Challenger Series was created to offer American tennis players more opportunities and builds on Oracle’s commitment to help support U.S. tennis for men and women at both the collegiate and professional level. The Series will feature equal prize money in a groundbreaking tournament format that combines the ATP Challenger Tour and WTA 125K Series."
 
tennis4me said:
Svitolina d Kasatkina 6-4,6-0. Impressive game from Svitolina. I haven't watched many of her matches, but I'm beginning to see why she beat Kerber over and over again.

Svitolina is one of the best, if not the best defender in WTA. She also moves around the court really well, better than Kerber. And lastly, she has weapons on both sides that allows her to pull the trigger at will.

She also has great feel on the court, create angles often and hits really deep in general - often painting lines. Superb athlete.

Congrats on defending her Dubai title.
Click to expand...

It will be difficult for Ang or anyone else to trouble Svitolina without a big first serve, she is such a strong returner pressure is on the opponents serve most games. Very much like Wozniacki these days Svitolina takes control of most of the points with big first serves and returns. You need a big serve and put pressure on the powder puff second serve to have a chance against either of these 2, then it will be a grind and close because they are so quick and fit.

I expect sometime this year Svitolina will follow Wozniacki and take a slam. She barring injury will keep improving and has the game for any surface, great hands and changes of pace.
 
Just caught up with the Kasatkina v Muguruza match.
What a tight match! Some of the rallys - amazing.
What a fighter Daria is!
Close, close match. Well done Daria Kasatkina.
 
Just caught up with the Kasatkina v Muguruza match.
What a tight match! Some of the rallys - amazing.
What a fighter Daria is!
Close, close match.
 
SystemicAnomaly said:
Has Sania played any events since she and her partner made it to the SF round last year at the US Open? Has she indicated why she is taking time off? I assume that she is no longer playing WTA singles.
Click to expand...

She's injured. I sometimes watched dubs but this year has been a yawn with couples of stars missing and Andrea/Latisha not quite there yet.
 
Svitolina improves her final record to an impressive 11-2. Successfully defends her Dubai title and wins her 2nd title of the year.
 
Cibulkova v Van Uytvanck for the Budapest title.

Van Uytvanck looking for her 2nd career title, Domi looking for her 9th and her first since the 2016 WTA Finals.

Domi back inside the top 30 with her run to the final, Alison back into the top 60 with her run.
 
I remember watching Daria when she was probably under 18 in one of her earlier lower level matches. At the time, I've never heard of her before, but I had the feeling she was going to do well in the tour. There's something different about her game - she hits with more varieties than most WTA players - especially the one-hand slices and she hits with a lot of (heavy) topspin compared to other WTA players.

Despite the bagel loss in the 2nd set, she did quite well in this Dubai tournament. Looking forward to seeing more of DK.
 
Aussie Darcy said:
Epic week for Kasatkina.

Konta led 6-4 3-1 and had two match points in the 2nd set tiebreak but Kasatkina managed to win.
Muguruza led 6-3 5-4 serving for the match and had three match points (also in the 2nd set tiebreak) but Kasatkina managed to win.

To make the final she's had to beat
#32 Radwanska
#12 Konta
#23 Vesnina
#3 Muguruza
Click to expand...

tennis4me said:
I remember watching Daria when she was probably under 18 in one of her earlier lower level matches. At the time, I've never heard of her before, but I had the feeling she was going to do well in the tour. There's something different about her game - she hits with more varieties than most WTA players - especially the one-hand slices and she hits with a lot of (heavy) topspin compared to other WTA players.

Despite the bagel loss in the 2nd set, she did quite well in this Dubai tournament. Looking forward to seeing more of DK.
Click to expand...

Kasatkina is currently the #2 player under 21 (after Ostapenko). Lately it appears that Daria K has fared much better than Jelena O. Other sub-21 players that have a lot of potential are #3 Osaka and #4 Bellis. The youngest of these, CC Bellis at 18+ años is also the #1 player under 20. CC did an excellent job of neutralizing Daria'a serve at Doha. CC has also posted victories over Pliskova and other top players.
 
Aussie Darcy said:
Cibulkova v Van Uytvanck for the Budapest title.

Van Uytvanck looking for her 2nd career title, Domi looking for her 9th and her first since the 2016 WTA Finals.

Domi back inside the top 30 with her run to the final, Alison back into the top 60 with her run.
Click to expand...
Van Uytvanck wins the Budapest title in 3 sets over Cibulkova. Her second career title.

Domi still without a title since winning the 2016 WTA finals.
 
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