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The first semi-final of 2019 Qatar Total Open presents a mouth-watering clash between the top seed Simona Halep and the fourth seed Elina Svitolina.
Both the players seem to be in decent form. Though Halep lost her number one ranking following a fourth round loss to Serena Williams at the Australian Open, she has bounced back strongly by helping Romania in defeatin Czech Republic to reach the semi-final of the Fed Cup.
Halep is understandably high on confidence and despite the hectic schedule and the freezing cold, she has managed to pull off two wins to reach the semi-final stage in Doha.
However, if the former champion wants to move further, she will have to improve her game, especially her serve. In her first match against Lesia Tsurenko, though a 6-2, 6-3 score line might suggest an easy affair, she did struggle with her serve.
Her first serve percentage in that match was at a lowly 59% and she was broken twice by Tsurenko. Though she improved her first serve percentage to 77% in the quarter-final against Julia Goerges, she was broken four times and managed to squeak through by winning the two tie-breakers.
Her opponent in the semi-final is the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina. The world number seven seems to be in good form. Though her Grand Slam jinx continued with her quarter-final loss at the Australian Open to Naomi Osaka, she is a force to be reckon with on the regular WTA tour.
In Doha, she has had a relatively hassle-free run to the semi-final. In her first match, she put it past the highly talented Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets. She broke Ostapenko five times, though she herself was broken thrice as well. But her first serve percentage was quite good at 71%.
She had an even easier match in her quarter final against Karolina Muchova, winning it by a 6-4, 6-1 score line. Apart from her usually sound return game, she continued her good serving form by landing 72% of her first serves and winning 79% of those serves.
She will of course face a much tougher opponent in Simona Halep. But Halep may be a bit exhausted after her Fed cup exploits and Svitolina should be able to get it past the Romanian if she cannot produce her best tennis.
Prediction: Elina Svitolina to win in 3 sets.
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