Chinese qualifier Zhu Lin rallied from one set down in her 5-7 6-4 7-5 win over last week’s Doha Qatar Open champion Elise Mertens to clinch the biggest win of her career at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships,
Mertens fought back from 3-5 down to win the first set 7-5 with four consecutive games. Zhu broke serve in a marathon 10th game after five deuces on the fourth set point to take a 6-4 lead. The third set started with three consecutive breaks. Mertens got two breaks to open up a 3-1 lead. Zhu broke back in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3 lead. The decider went on serve until the 12th game when Zhu sealed the win 7-5 with another break.
“She is a competitor. She always fights until the end of the match. I am really happy that I am the winner today. I know how she plays because we played last year once. I know It’s always going to be tough to play against her. I prepared before this match and I talked to my coach. We did very well”, said Zhu.
Former WTA Finals champion Dominika Cibulkova came back from one set down to beat Lara Arruabarrena 5-7 6-1 6-2 setting up a head-to-clash clash against Karolina Pliskova.
Dominika Cibulkova bounced back from a tough start to the season with a three-set win over Spain’s Lara Arrabarruena in the first round in Dubai after losing her first two matches against San Stosur in Sydney and Zhang Shuai at the Australian Open.
Cibulkova got two breaks in the second and sixth games to race out to a 5-1 40-0 lead, but Arrabarruena reeled off six consecutive games with three consecutive breaks to clinch the opening set 7-5.
Cibulkova bounced back from losing the first set with an early break in the second game of the second set to build up 3-0 lead. After saving four break points in the fifth game at deuce Cibulkova broke for the second time in the sixth game to clinch the second set 6-1.
Cibulkova went up a double break in the third and the fifth games to open up a 4-1 lead. Arrabarruena pulled one break back in the sixth game but Cibulkova broke for the third time to close out the third set 6-2.
“Before Australia I felt so good in training, and was really frustrated after those two first-round losses. I am getting there and hopefully I will achieve something I am wishing for. I am really hard because in St. Petersburg I got sick and i could not play Fed Cup either. I missed matches, so in an ideal situation I would not have come here. I had a few trainings and I hoped match”,said Cibulkova.
Cibulkova will face Karolina Pliskova in a blockbuster second round match. In their most recent head-to-head match Pliskova beat Cibulkova in Doha 2017.
“It’s going to be really tough. She is a favourite, so I just want to go out there, give my best, and see what I am capable of in this situation. This is my only preparation before indian Wells and Miami, so this i show I want to take it”,said Cibulkova.
Caroline Garcia cruised past Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 6-0 to reach the second round. Both players traded breaks in the first two games to draw level to 1-1. Garcia got another break in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead and won four consecutive games with two breaks of serve to build up a 6-2 2-0 lead. The French player dropped just three points in her three service games and got three consecutive breaks to cruise to a bagel win in the second set after 62 minutes setting up a second round match against Jennifer Brady, who beat Jelena Ostapenko 6-4 6-0.
Brady upset Garcia 6-4 7-6 (7-3) in the first round of the Thailand Open earlier this year.
