Svitolina Shakes Down Kerber Again In Dubai, Faces Kasatkina In Final

Elina Svitolina kept her domination over fellow former No. 1 Angelique Kerber taking out the German 6-3, 6-3 to reach the Dubai final.

“I’m happy that it was in two sets because before we had such a tough battles. Physically, it was very tough,” the 4th-ranked Svitolina said. “I was really pleased the way I was playing the tough moments. There were one, two points that decided the first set, and the second set, also [where I] came back into the match.

“There was couple of points that I was really happy the way I handle it.”

Svitolina has now beaten Kerber five straight times including in the same Dubai semifinals a year ago.

“I was actually practicing with her in Doha the first day I arrived. I felt she’s back into the game,” Svitolina said of Kerber, who’s made her return to the Top 10 this year.

“She strikes the ball well. I always played against her when she was playing good tennis. Last time we played, it was in Germany when she was extremely motivated to bring a point to the team. It was a massive fight from both of us.”

Svitolina will seek her second title of the year against the surprising Russian Daria Kasatkina. Kasatkina had to save three match points to upend Garbine Muguruza 3-6, 7-6(11), 6-1.

“I’ve no idea how I keep doing this,” the 20-year-old Kasatkina said of the match points. “I don’t know, really!”

Svitolina has won both career meetings taking the 2016 New Haven and 2017 Canada.

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