WTA Dubai: Kristina Mladenovic sends pale Naomi Osaka packing!
Kristina Mladenovic has played in just one WTA final since Madrid 2017 but has performed like a top-10 player today in Dubai, defeating the world no. 1 Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-3 in 66 minutes! The French hadn't won a match in 2019 before Dubai and she will now play in the third round after overpowering the Australian Open champion that played the first match after Melbourne and recent split with Sascha Bajin. Osaka was miles from her best, spraying too many errors and never acting like a player who knows how to emerge as the winner, dropping staggering 65% of the points behind the initial shot and losing serve seven times.
Kristina gave serve away four times but she had the upper hand all the time, controlling the pace and her strokes to master the Japanese and stay on the title course. Naomi was on the wrong side of the clock right from the start, losing serve in games one and three and once again while serving to stay in the set at 3-5. The second set offered seven straight breaks and Kristina grabbed four of those, opening a 5-3 lead and sealing the deal with a hold in game nine for her best wins in a couple of years.
A two-time defending champion Elina Svitolina had to dig deep in the opening set against Ons Jabeur, trailing 4-1 before bouncing back to win the set in the tie break, moving 4-0 ahead in set number two before the Tunisian decided to retire and propel the Ukrainian into the third round. The 5th seed Angelique Kerber was off to a slow start as well, trailing 5-1 to Dalila Jakupovic and saving two set points at 5-6 for a late break and a chance to play the tie break that she won 7-4. From 2-3 in the second, Kerber won four straight games to seal the deal and move on, hoping for a better performance against Su-Wei Hsieh on Wednesday.
The 8th seed Aryna Sabalenka needed 69 minutes to dismiss a qualifier Ivana Jorovic 6-4, 6-0, losing just 14 points on serve and stealing half of the return points to secure four breaks from eight opportunities she created.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2TXoScy
No comments