With both Serena Williams and Azarenka withdrawing from Dubai, it was quite interesting to see who would take the lead in Dubai. Sharapova decided not to participate here at all, so the highest ranked player was Radwanska here.
And then suddenly, Kvitova emerged reborn. Her forehand was as deadly as in her Wimbledon campaign two years ago (hitting an incredible 222 winners in one tournament!). Okay, it wasn't that spectacular ... yet. Kvitova did defeat Radwanska 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinal and it wasn't because the Pole wasn't as consistent as ever.
In the semi's she pushed through against another defensive player: Wozniacki. The Dane seems to recover slowly from her drop in the rankings. She did play convincingly in Dubai, overcoming a determined Bartoli: 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the quarters. But Kvitova was too much for her in the semi's: 6-3, 6-4.
In the top draw, the doubles team Errani and Vinci had to battle it out in the semi's after Errani won against Petrova: 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 and Vinci extends her great form by beating Stosur: 6-2, 6-4, after previously sending Kerber home too! In their semifinal, Errani came out victorious: 6-3, 6-3, stringing along five consecutive wins against her doubles partner.
I had seen Kvitova play, so I thought she would leave nothing standing of Errani to take the Dubai title (after previously not even winning a match here!). But the fiesty Italian decided to make it a threesetter but lost in the end: 2-6, 6-1, 1-6.
Now I'm very excited to see if Kvitova can push through with her strong game. She encountered a lot of defensive players in Dubai, so playing against a Serena or Sharapova will be the real test!
The tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami are coming up in March, so keep posted!
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