‘Out of power’ Iga Swiatek stunned by Anna Kalinskaya in Dubai
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Poland's Iga Swiatek during her semi-final match against Russia's Anna Kalinskaya at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
PHOTO: REUTERS
DUBAI – Iga Swiatek blamed fatigue for her loss to Anna Kalinskaya in the Dubai semi-finals on Feb 23, admitting that she “didn’t have power any more” to up her level during the match.
The 25-year-old snapped Swiatek’s seven-match winning streak and ended the world No. 1’s bid for a rare Doha-Dubai title double with a commanding 6-4, 6-4 victory.
“I didn’t have power any more to give even more, which doesn’t happen often,” admitted the 22-year-old Swiatek, a four-time Grand Slam champion.
“I just felt out of control a little bit because of that. Usually when I tell myself what to do, I can improve my game. Today I was so out of power and tired that I just couldn’t.”
For now, the Polish star would probably take a little time off for rest before Indian Wells comes around in March.
Swiatek will be looking to improve on last season, when she lost in the semi-finals to Kazakh Elena Rybakina, who went on to win the tournament.
The top seed came into the Dubai Tennis Championships semi-finals having won 25 of her last 26 matches and looking to follow up her title run in Doha, Qatar, last week with a first-time triumph in the UAE.
In contrast, Kalinskaya had to battle through the qualifying rounds and has clinched three top-10 victories over Jelena Ostapenko, Coco Gauff and Swiatek.
“She’s a great player. I knew if I didn’t stay calm and I didn’t stay aggressive she is going to destroy me. So that was my plan, to stay aggressive, to move her a lot,” Kalinskaya said of Swiatek.
The 40th-ranked Russian was contesting her first WTA 1000 semi-final, and her win meant that she made it into her first tour-level final, where she faced Italian Jasmine Paolini on Feb 24.
Kalinskaya had defeated Paolini in January at the Australian Open to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final, where she lost to eventual runner-up Zheng Qinwen of China.
In men’s tennis, Czech Jakub Mensik on Feb 23 became the youngest ATP finalist since Carlos Alcaraz three years ago, when he defeated French veteran Gael Monfils at the Qatar Open.
The teenager followed up his quarter-final win over Russia’s fifth-ranked Andrey Rublev by seeing off the 37-year-old Monfils 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
At 18 years and five months, Mensik is the fifth-youngest ATP finalist since 2005 and youngest since Alcaraz went to the Umag championship match in 2021.
The Czech, who will rise from 116th in the world to inside the top 100 next week, took on Russia’s Karen Khachanov in the final on Feb 24.
“It’s amazing. It’s been an incredible week,” said Mensik ahead of the title decider, after also defeating former world No. 1 and three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray in Doha.
The Qatar Open is just his third main-draw event following breakout runs to the third round of the 2023 US Open and a second-round appearance at the Australian Open in January. AFP, REUTERS
