Tennis. Iga Świątek said goodbye to the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai. Tamer Anna Kalinska from Russia. The Pole did not repeat the result from last year

The leader of the world ranking, Iga Świątek, faced the Russian tennis player ranked fortieth in the world, Anna Kalinska . It was the first match for the tennis players. In the 1/4 finals, the Pole defeated the sixth seeded Chinese Qinwen Zheng (6:3, 6:2). In turn, the 25-year-old player from Moscow sensationally defeated the third racket in the world, the American Cori Gauff (2:6, 6:4, 6:2). At stake was the final of the Dubai Duty Fee Tennis Championships. The Pole played for the 23rd final of the WTA series (eighteen titles). In turn, the competitor fought for the first singles final in her senior career.

On the way to this stage, the 22-year-old from Raszyn eliminated the following: former US Open champion, American Sloana Stephens (41st WTA), Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (20th WTA) and Zheng (7th WTA). The rival, however, entered the quarter-finals after a series of six victories in Dubai. At the beginning she had to go through qualifications. In the main draw, she defeated Australian Storm Hunter (128th WTA), Spanish Cristina Bucsa (67th WTA), former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko (9th WTA), and US Open champion Gauff (3rd WTA).

The semi-final match started with a seven-minute game on the Polish woman’s serve – she came out unscathed, defending two break points. In the following games, the returning players also had their say, although it was the serving players who saved the points to their advantage. When the score was 3:2 for the Pole, the Raszyn player took advantage of her fifth chance to break. It was in this game that the fans could admire the exchange of the match ending with Świątek’s triumph.

However, from the score of 4:2, the Polish player started making unforced errors with both forehand and backhand. Anna Kalinska won four games in a row without giving the impression that she was playing for her first WTA finals.

Świątek used only one of seven chances to end the game on her opponent’s serve. It was the first set lost by the Pole in eight matches. At the end of January, she lost two sets to Linda Noskova in the 3rd round of AO.

The second game was characterized by shorter games and rallies. Our tennis player couldn’t have started the set worse, because she lost her serve. In the second part, the Pole could not reach the level she was used to in this tournament. Kalinska, in turn, maintained an effective game. In the seventh game, the Russian broke her opponent. In the next match, the Raszyn player defended two matches.

The determined Świątek managed to make the difference by one game, but in the next game the Russian, who looked consistent on the court, used the third match ball.

For the Pole, it was her fourth appearance in Dubai.

In the final she will face Italian Jasmine Paolini .