Ana Ivanovic beat defending champion Simona Halep 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 to book her spot in the quarter finals at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Tournament. Ivanovic and Halep did not get on the court until after 8 pm due to heavy rain.
Halep broke serve in Ivanovic’s first service game to take a 3-1 lead. Ivanovic earned break point chances in the sixth games but she did not convert them.
Halep earned a set point when she was serving for the first set at 5-4 40-30, but she hit her backhand into the net to waste her chance. Ivanovic saved a set point and broke back to draw level to 5-5. Ivanovic saved two break points in the next game before Halep hit an ace down the middle to force the first set to the tie-break.
Halep got a mini-break to win the first point but Ivanovic fought back to win six of the next seven points, including a 21-shot rally for 4-1. Ivanovic earned a set point as Halep made consecutive forehand errors. Ivanovic closed out the first set in one hour and 17 minutes when Halep hit a backhand wide.
There were three breaks of serve in the first three games of the second set. Ivanovic fired four straight winners to earn an early break to love. Halep broke straight back to draw level to 1-1 bu Ivanovic got another break in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Ivanovic saved three break-back point chances in the fourth game to open up a 3-1 lead. Halep held her serve in the fifth game at deuce for 2-3. In the third consecutive game at deuce Ivanovic held her serve for 4-2. Ivanovic got a double break in the seventh game for 5-2 and served out for the second set on on her first match point to reach her fourth the quarter finals in Dubai for the fourth time in her career. Halep won just seven points on her serve in the second set.
Ivanovic has scored her first win over a top-5 player since she defeated Eugenie Bouchard at the 2014 WTA Finals in Singapore.
Ivanovic suffered first-round defeats in Auckland and Sydney and lost in the third round at the Australian Open but has showed recent good form reaching the semifinals in St. Petersburg last week. The Serbian player dropped just one game against Daria Gavrilova in Dubai.
“I am delighted. It was a great battle in the first set. She is a great player and I really had to raise my game, which I think I did. It was not easy but I am really thrilled to be through. I was a little bit anxious because it was stop and go. I think we both wanted to continue playing but it was a little bit slippery. I needed to stay calm and I am glad I managed to do that. ”, said Ivanovic.
Ivanovic set up a quarter final against Barbora Strykova, who fought back from a set down to beat Julia Georges 2-6 6-3 6-1.
Halep was disappointed with her match. “It was close. In the first set I had set ball. I couldn’t finish, and then I lost a little bit of confidence and it was over. I think I was doing okay. I was aggressive. She played really well. She came back well. I served okay. I returned okay”
Elina Svitolina overcame second seed Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (7-3) 6-3. Svitolina had chances to close out the first set at 5-4 and at 6-5 but was broken each time. The first set came down to the tie-break where Svitolina prevailed 7-3 after 1 hour and 15 minutes. Sviltolina held off a late comeback from Muguruza in the second set to close out the second set 6-3.
“It was really tough and as you can see for both of us it was a real battle. I am happy I could win the the first set because it was up and down, really a rollercoaster”, said Svitolina.
Madison Brengle pulled off an upset when she came back from losing the first set with a bagel to overcome Petra Kvitova 0-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-3. Muguruza made 68 unforced errors.
“I am not really ready to compete. I think I just need to start from zero again and forget these couple of tournaments”, said a disappointed Muguruza.
Svitolina will face Coco Vandeweghe who overcame a second-set loss to beat Kristina Mladenovic 7-5 3-6 6-4.
Kvitova went up a set and a break but she was broken back at 3-1. At 4-5 Kvitova saved three set points. Brengle cruised to 7-1 in the tie-break. Brengle fought back from 1-3 by winning five consecutive games to take the win the the third set by 6-3.
Andrea Petkovic beat Jelena Jankovic 6-3 6-2 setting up a quarter final against Andrea Petkovic. Barbora Strykova came back from a set and a break down to edge Julia Georges 2-6 6-3 6-3. Sara Errani cruised to a 6-3 6-0 win over Yaroslava Schvedova in just 59 minutes. Errani broke serve three times in each set and won 85 percent of her first serve points.
