Elina Svitolina again. Just like a year ago at this venue and in the semi-finals, the 23-year-old Ukrainian was the spectre of Angelique Kerber, standing in the way of a final for the Kieler at the Dubai Duty Free Championships.
3:6 and 3:6, Kerber left the pitch after an initial grudge duel and later on a break-in as a loser, apparently also physically a bit shaken.”It wasn’t my day today. There were too many mistakes in the game. I’ve never really found my rhythm,”said Kerber later, after the fourth consecutive defeat against the current World Ranking Fourth. Responding to a possible injury, Kerber pretended to be covered and did not want to comment further.
In the final, defending champion Svitolina surprisingly meets 20-year-old Russian Darya Kasatkina, who won 3-6,7-6 (13-11) and 6-1 against Wimbledon queen Garbine Muguruza in the first semi-final after defending three match points.
After the second Dubai knockout in two consecutive tournament years, Kerber said she was “broadly satisfied” with her tour of the Gulf against Svitolina. That sounded just like Kerber’s record. I’ve also seen what is still missing here and there,”said Kerber himself,” it’s time to continue to work hard and concentrate on what’s missing here and there “.
On Saturday it should go for the 30-year-old to her home country – but only for a one-week respite and regeneration before the start of the top competitions to Indian Wells and Miami. Kerber wanted to clarify in a timely manner whether she would participate in the Fed Cup semi-finals against the Czech Republic.
“Observers assume that Kerber will return to the Porsche Team Germany, especially as it can be assumed that the match will take place directly before the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
Kerber could not rely on a consistently good serve against Svitolina as in the previous games – in the first set, the German could only manage her service once, and early on even produced several double errors. So there was a lack of basic security in the game, instead Kerber’s performance was staggering, moody and difficult to calculate.
The same was true for the second act, in which Kerber managed to break 2-1 in an overlong game, but then lost four games quite weakly to 2-5. A last uprising did not catch any more – and then it was clear that the semi-final and Svitolina were once again the final destination for the multi-million dollar game on the Golf.