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In the second semi-final of the 2019 WTA Dubai Championships, the two-time defending Champion Elina Svitolina faces a resurgent Belinda Bencic.
Both the players had contrasting routes to the semi-final. It was a straight forward win for the sixth-seed, whereas Bencic clawed her way back into the match after losing the first set.
The Ukrainian was at her dominant best against the Spanish veteran, Carla Suarez Navarro. It was not just a straight-set hammering, but a complete domination, which was exemplified by the fact that Svitolina pocketed twenty-one points more than Navarro in the entire match.
Her return game was very solid as usual, and that resulted in her breaking Navarro five times in the match. However, she is yet to hit top gear when it comes to her own serve. She lost her serve twice in the match.
Her opponent in the semi-final will be a resurgent Belinda Bencic, who is playing her best top tier tournament in recent times. She is still nowhere close to her dominating self of a couple of years ago, when she was widely tipped to be the next big thing in Women’s tennis.
But the competitive spirit and the never-say-die attitude still remains in her. She followed up her impressive win over Sabalenka, in which she saved multiple match points against her, with another come-from-behind win over Simona Halep.
She had lost the first set, and was close to being a break down a couple of times in the second set as well. But once she saw off those challenges, she took the match by the scruff of the neck.
She was certainly helped by a tiring Halep, who was feeling the exhaustion of playing a lot of tennis in the last two weeks. But it is to Bencic’s credit that she was able to take advantage of whatever opportunities came her way.
But despite the win, it was clear that she still continues to struggle with her service games. In the match against Halep too, she was broken five times. In Svitolina, she will face another great returner, who unlike Halep, seems to be in fine shape.
Unless Bencic improves her service game by a notch, it is difficult to see her getting the better of the two-time defending Champion.
Prediction: Elina Svitolina to win in 3 Sets
