Mon, Feb 26, 2018 page10

• Chan and Yang win doubles in Dubai

  TITLE DEFENSE: Elina Svitolina retained her title by steamrolling Daria Kasatkina, who refused to blame tiredness, despite playing 545 tournament minutes to Svitolina’s 297

  • By Dave Carroll / Staff reporter, with AP, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
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  Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Yang Zhaoxuan of China on Saturday won their first WTA Tour title in a thrilling doubles final at the Dubai Championships, while Elina Svitolina defended her singles title in the United Arab Emirates.

  Chan and Yang rallied from a set down to overcome fourth seeds Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Peng Shuai of China 4-6, 6-2, 10-6 in 1 hour, 30 minutes in an all-cross-strait battle. They competed as a pairing for only their second tournament after pairing up at the Qatar Open earlier this month.

  Unseeded Chan and Yang saved four of seven break points and converted four of six, winning 67 of the 124 points contested as they rallied from 1-5 down in the super tiebreak, winning nine of the final 10 points to lift the trophy.

  

  Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching, right, and Yang Zhaoxuan of China celebrate winning a point against Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Peng Shuai of China on Saturday during the Dubai Championships doubles final in the United Arab Emirates.

  Photo: EPA

  “I think we believed in ourselves. Yeah, I think that was the key. This is how we play and that’s what makes us a good team,” Chan told the United Arab Emirates-based English-language Khaleej Times after the victory.

  “We just told ourselves to keep going. I think we played good even in the first set. Both of us were playing very well. So we just needed to continue the momentum,” Yang said.

  It was the 14th WTA doubles title for Chan, 10 of them with elder sister Latisha Chan, and she hopes to continue her new partnership with Yang.

  “I think we played aggressive from the start. We hope we can play more tournaments together,” she said.

  In the singles, top-seeded Elina Svitolina retained her Dubai Championships title with a 6-4, 6-0 win over unseeded Daria Kasatkina, who was finally unable to make a comeback.

  It was the 11th singles title for the 23-year-old Svitolina, who had last year won a tour-high five titles, and added Brisbane to that list earlier this year.

  The fourth-ranked Ukrainian improved to 14-2 for the year.

  “I am very pleased with the performance throughout the week,” Svitolina said. “When I had to play well, I played well. I did good at important moments. I was serving good, returning well, getting lots of balls back ... Maybe not amazing tennis, but I was pretty solid. It was enough.”

  Svitolina became the third player in the history of the tournament to successfully defend her title after Justine Henin (2003 and 2004) and Venus Williams (2009 and 2010).

  “It feels amazing to have my name with them,” Svitolina said. “It really motivated me.”

  Svitolina made the all-important break in the fifth game of the first set, and quickly asserted her dominance in the second by going up 5-0 with three breaks, the third coming at love. She then comfortably served out the match.

  Coming into the match, Kasatkina had spent a total of 545 minutes on court against Svitolina’s 297, but the Russian refused to blame tiredness for her lackluster performance in the final.

  “It just happened. It’s okay. If you are a top player, you are getting byes, and you are going through the first round. It is what it is,” Kasatkina said.

  Despite the loss, 20-year-old Kasatkina's run ensures she will move inside the top 20 when the rankings come out today.
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