WTA

Lucie Safarova Captures Home Title In Prague

Lucie Safarova won the title in her home tournament of Prague. The No. 2 seed defeated Samantha Stosur 3-6 6-1 6-4 to get her first title of 2016, and 7th in her career.

Published

4 years ago

01/05/2016

Jakub Bobro

Safarova’s 2016 was truly a struggle until coming to the only tournament in her home nation. In Prague is where she seems to get back to her past form, capturing the title despite defeating tough opponent in Samantha Stosur and Karolina Pliskova.

Samantha Stosur was her opponent in the final. Safarova failed to exercise her game plan, to play into Stosur’s weaker backhand. Making mistakes herself, she lost her serve in the second game, and then failed to take her break point chance at 2-4. Stosur took the first set 6-3, upsetting the full crowd of Czechs.

The Australian failed to bring her form to the second set, and making double faults in the second game, granting Safarova the lead. Safarova started to push her opponent more and became more consistent. This resulted in the Czech taking the second set in 30 minutes, 6-1.

Both players brought their game for an entertaining deciding set. After a great performance, Safarova broke her opponent to lead 4-3, which turned out to be the deciding moment of the match. Safarova served well throughout the tournament and she peaked in the final game. With her 13th ace she proceeded to a match point, and with ace No. 14 she ended the game, set and the match, as the full crowd cheered.

“I felt here like at home, for which I want to thank all the organizers, who took great care of us here. This is truly a very emotive moment for me, because 6 months ago I was lying in my bed, almost unable to move. The road here was awfully difficult, but now I am unbelievably happy, since I came back in Prague,” Safarova rejoiced over her 7th WTA title.

“I had a great week here. This was my first time here at the tournament and I played excellent tennis, which made me very happy. I am very happy that I could have been here and I will gladly return next year,” commented the Australian Samantha Stosur during the trophy ceremony.

Safarova will now move up to No. 13 in the rankings after a successful week, advancing 3 spots. Stosur moved up from No. 25 to 23.

Related Topics:Lucie Safarova Samantha Stosur

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WTA

Simona Halep eases through her first final of the season in Dubai

Published

2 days ago

22/02/2020

sampaolo

Simona Halep cruised past US qualifier Jennifer Brady 6-2 6-0 after just 62 minutes to reach her first final of the season at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Halep saved the only two break points she faced and hit 16 winners to 8 unforced errors. Halep earned an early break in the opening game before saving two break points to hold serve for 2-0. The 2019 Wimbledon player went up a double break and held serve to race out to a 5-1 lead. Brady hit a backhand winner to win her service game for 5-2. Halep wrapped up the first set on her first set point in the next game.

Halep went up an early break in the first game of the second set. She hit a forehand winner on her third break point to race out to a 3-0 lead. Halep earned her third consecutive break in the fifth game for 5-0. Halep earned a match point with a backhand winner and sealed the win after a backhand error from Brady. Halep set up a final against Elena Rybakina, who beat Petra Martic 7-6 7-6.

“It felt much better than previous matches. I played really well. Everything went in my side. I felt the ball great. I feel like I played the best match since I came here. It’s amazing what Rybakina has done already this year”, said Halep.

WTA

Elena Rybakina saves a set point in each set to overcome Petra Martic in Dubai semifinal

Published

2 days ago

21/02/2020

sampaolo

Elena Rybakina came back from a break down and saved a set point in each set to overcome Petra Martic 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-2) after 2 hours and 11 minutes reaching her fourth final this season at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Rybakina has won 19 of her first 22 matches this season. She lost in Shenzhen before clinching her first title of her title in Hobart. She lost to Ashleigh Barty in the third round at the Australian Open. She advanced to her third final of the 2020 season in St. Petersburg before losing to Kiki Bertens.

Rybakina has reached the sixth final of her career and her second at Premier level. She won two titles in Bucarest and Hobart and finished runner-up in Nanchang, Shenzhen and St. Petersburg. Earlier this week the Kazakh player beat two top ten players Sofia Kenin and Karolina Pliskova before beating Petra Martic in three hard-fought sets in the semifinal. Rybakina hit 32 winners to 23 unforced errors.

The opening set started with three consecutive breaks. Martic broke twice and maintained her lead until 5-4. Rybakina broke back in the 10th game to draw level to 5-5 to force the first set to the tie-break.

Rybakina saved a set point with a forehand pass to draw level to 5-5, as she was serving for the set. Rybakina built up a 6-2 lead. Martic saved three chances but Rybakina sealed her fourth set point with a volley at the net.

Martic earned an early break to open up a 3-0 lead. Rybakina saved a point to trail a double break at 0-4. Rybakina broke back in the seventh game, as Martic netted a dropshot. Both players saved break points in the final three games at deuce. Rybakina was just two points from losing the set, while she was serving at 4-5. Rybakina saved a set point at 5-6 with backhand winners forcing the second set to the tie-break.

Rybakina raced out to a 6-1 lead in the tie-break and sealed the win on her second match points with a backhand.

“I have to adjust because everything is new to me. It is always great to beat a player from the top 5 I alway try to do my best and want to win every match. I was focusing on on what I had to do”, said Rybakina.

WTA

Elena Rybakina comes back from one set down against Karolina Pliskova to reach her fourth semifinal of the year in Dubai

Published

3 days ago

20/02/2020

sampaolo

Elena Rybakina came back from a break down in the opening set to beat Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 reaching the semifinal at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Rybakina has qualified for her fourth semifinal this season. She opened the year with the final in Shenzhen followed by a title in Hobart. After losing to Ashleigh Barty in the third round at the Australian Open, the Kazakh player finished runner-up to Kiki Bertens in the final in St. Petersburg.

Rybakina hit 33 winners (including 11 aces) to 20 unforced errors and saved 10 of the 11 break points she faced.

Pliskova fended off a break point in the opening game of the first set before breaking serve in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead after a pair of double faults from Rybakina.

Rybakina broke straight back in the seventh game with forehand return winners. The Kazakh player missed a break point at 4-4, but she held her serve in the 12th game with three consecutive aces to force the first set to the tie-break. Rybakina raced out to a 6-0 lead in the tie-break and sealed the tie-break on her second set point 7-1.

Rybakina broke serve in the second game to open up a 4-1 lead. She had to overcome a total of eleven deuces and saved six break points in her first three service games. She held serve for 1-0 with three consecutive service winners and hit a backhand crosscourt winner in the third game and a forehand down the line down break point in the fifth game.

Rybakina earned her first break in the second game of the second set to open up a 2-0 lead after a double fault from Pliskova.

Pliskova saved three break points in the sixth game to hold serve for 2-4. Rybakina held serve at deuce to take a 5-2 lead and rallied from 0-30 down to serve out the win.