Svitolina: "When they announced our names, they saying that Justine and Venus are the only ones who defended their titles, I was like, 'Okay, c'mon, you have to do this.' It really motivated me"
Saturday 24 February 2018 17:54, UK
Top seed Elina Svitolina successfully defended her Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title after defeating Russia's Daria Kasatkina 6-4 6-0 in the final.
The fourth-ranked Ukrainian joined Justine Henin and Venus Willliams as the third women's player to win successive Dubai titles.
"It's amazing to win here again," 23-year-old Svitolina said. "Even being the defending champion is amazing.
"I was just trying to hit the ball onto the court and make her run today. At the end I'm very happy with how I played, with this whole week, actually."
Svitolina, who had won both her previous meetings against Kasatkina, dominated the early phase and went on to seal a break of serve in the fifth game.
Kasatkina, ranked 24 in the world, saved three set points but was inconsistent with her groundstrokes and Svitolina soon wrapped up the opening set.
Svitolina made the most of the momentum and produced a faultless display in the second set, recording three more breaks of serve and 18 winners to claim the victory in 70 minutes.
It was an evening to forget for the Kasatkina, 20, who committed 34 unforced errors, but her victories over Britain's Johanna Konta and world No 3 Garbine Muguruza this week reflected her remarkable progress on the WTA Tour this season and is guaranteed a move to a career-best 20th on Monday.
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