WTA Dubai Tennis Championships: Halep destroys Brady as Rybakina through to fourth final
WORLD number two, Simona Halep is through to the Dubai Tennis Championships final after wiping American Jennifer Brady off the court in the semi-final.
The Romanian number one seed needed just 62 minutes to blow her opponent away, 6-2 6-0 and book a spot in the decider, winning 75.9 and 57.9 per cent of her first and second serve points, while saving both break point opportunities from the American. Upon return, Halep broke five times and controlled play throughout the two sets, winning 58.3 per cent of her total return points on her way to a huge win. In the donut-winning second set, Halep only dropped seven points on serve and 12 points in total, breaking three times from five chances while her opponent did not look like getting near a break. Halep now takes on Kazahkstani young gun, Elena Rybakina.
The 20-year-old had a much tougher time in her semi-final against eighth seed, Petra Martic. Rybakina had to fight her way out of two tiebreakers to eventually win, 7-6 7-6. The first tiebreaker went her way 7-5, while the second one was a bit smoother, taking it out 7-2. Her fast serving allowed her to hit six aces to two, but also four double faults as both players were broken three times. Rybakina won 63.8 per cent of her first serve points and 56.1 per cent of her second serve points on her way to getting the better of her more experienced opponent. While Martic did take more control off Rybakina’s second serve, the Kazakhstani won 40.3 per cent off Martic’s first serve, and stood up in the huge moments during both tiebreakers.
The win meant Rybakina booked a spot in a remarkable fourth final from five tournaments as she continues to shoot up the rankings, currently sitting at 17th in the world with a two spot jump, but a win in Dubai would see her also leapfrog world number 16, Garbine Muguruza. Halep is too far away to catch Ash Barty as the top ranked player, but has also built up massive ground on world number three, Karolina Pliskova.
SEMI-FINAL RESULTS:
[1] Simona Halep (ROU) defeated Jennifer Brady (USA) 6-2 6-0
Elena Rybakina (KAZ) defeated [8] Petra Martic (CRO) 7-6 7-6
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