Ana Ivanovic produced another terrific performance at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships to knock out top seed and defending champion Simona Halep.
In the previous round, Ivanovic dropped a solitary game, and she was every bit as impressive against Halep, booking her place in the quarterfinals with a 7-6(2), 6-2 win.
“Honestly, I’m delighted,” Ivanovic said. “It was a great battle in the first set, and she’s such a great player and I really had to raise my game, which I think I did. It was not easy but I’m really thrilled to be through.”
Heavy rain meant the players did not get on court until after 8pm. When they did finally emerge, another interruption was soon forthcoming, as the ball kids hastily tried to towel down the still-damp baseline.
On the resumption, Halep started brightest, opening up a 5-3 lead. However, with the set at her mercy she tightened, netting a couple of routine groundstrokes to surrender her advantage.
With her tail now up, Ivanovic produced some sparkling tennis to take the tie-break before racing through the second set.
“I was a little but anxious because it was stop and go. I think we both wanted to continue playing but it was a little bit slippery. I needed to stay calm and I’m glad I managed to do that,” Ivanovic added when quizzed about the second interruption.
Barbora Strycova, a 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 winner over Julia Goerges earlier in the day, awaits in the quarterfinals, and Ivanovic expects another testing outing.
“She beat Julia, who is playing great, so it’s going to be a tough match,” Ivanovic added. “We’ve played a few times before, but I’m not really thinking about that at the moment.”
Caroline Garcia of France waited out a rain interruption of three and a half hours before advancing to her first quarter-final at the Dubai Tennis Championships with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Carla Suarez Navarro.
Garcia, 22 and world ranked 38th, needed to play out the final handful of points after returning to the court in the evening following a rare rainstorm in the desert emirate which flooded the court in a city so dry there is hardly a need for municipal drainage.
The 11th-ranked Spaniard Suarez Navarro won the first set against Garcia in 44 minutes but found herself level-pegging at one set each as Garcia converted on a third set point in the second.
The weather hit with the Frenchwoman leading 5-3 in the third, sending players quickly off court.
“I was calm when we returned to the court, but as I served for it my hand was shaking,” the winner said. “But this is a part of my game we have worked a lot on.
“It is always difficult to re-start, this rain was quite unexpected. I just played aggressive and fought to the end. I stayed positive through the match.”
Australian Open quarter-finalist Suarez Navarro had played quarter-finals at the Aviation club for the last two years but could not reach a third as she faced Garcia for the first time.