It is time for the final at the WTA Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships. Top seed Iga Swiatek will face surprise finalist Barbora Krejcikova in a rematch of the Ostrava final from last season. The Pole is looking to polish up her Middle East swing with yet another title. As for Krejcikova a first WTA 1000 title is in sight. Who do you think will lay her hands on the trophy?
WTA Dubai Final Prediction
Iga Swiatek vs Barbora Krejcikova
Head-to-head: Swiatek 2-1 Krejcikova
Iga Swiatek is at the center of attention and for the right reasons. Her meek exit at last month’s Australian Open to Elena Rybakina had raised serious questions on whether the Pole would be able to sustain another season of unlimited success. Swiatek has not only emphatically responded, but she has posed a question of her own, who is stopping her now?
Swiatek eased into her 15th career final with a 6-4 6-2 win over Coco Gauff on Friday. It wasn’t the drubbing that Swiatek has doled out to every opponent during the Middle East swing, but Gauff was fighting a losing battle right from when she went down an early break. It is Swiatek’s sixth successive win without reply over the young American. And worryingly for Gauff, she has not managed to win a single set.
Barbora Krejcikova, meanwhile, was struggling to string wins in the Arabian peninsula. She started her campaign with a second-round defeat in Abu Dhabi before Veronika Kudermeotva handed her a fourth defeat of 2023 in Doha. But she managed to steady the ship in Dubai. Her season began to unravel after exacting revenge on Daria Kasatkina. Wins over Petra Kvitova and Aryna Sabalenka followed–the latter being the Belarusian’s first defeat of this season. Krejcikova put the champagne on ice on Friday, earning her second Top 10 win of the week, dispatching Jessica Pegula 6-1 5-7 6-0 to return to her second Dubai final. Can she inflict a third finals defeat on Iga Swiatek?
After another dominant week, Swiatek will now face the ultimate test, coming up against one of only two women to have beaten her in a WTA final. Swiatek’s thunderous and heavy forehand is extremely potent which means Krejcikova will need to play at a higher level than she did in any round this week. The unseeded Krejcikova sent shockwaves across the world with that rousing win over the Pole in Ostrava last season in one of the best matches of 2022. The Czech’s brick-wall defense has stood tall in the wake of pressure this week. Not even the most vicious and consistent ground strokes of Pegula found a way to hurt her. Still, it will be totally unexpected and truly spectacular if Krejcikova is able to win Saturday’s final. With that said, the World #1 will in all probability bag her second title of the season in style.
Prediction: Swiatek in 2
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane USAToday
