Seventh seed Elina Svitolina battles tenth seed Caroline Wozniacki in the finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships. Wozniacki has now reached consecutive finals after appearing in the championship match of Doha and will be seeking her second championship in Dubai while Svitolina aims for the sixth and biggest championship of her career.
Svitolina's path to the final
The seventh seed has looked strong, dropping one set en route to the final. She's defeated Saisai Zheng 7-5, 6-1 in the second round after receiving a first round bye, Christina McHale 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the third round, Lauren Davis 6-0, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and top seed Angelique Kerber 6-3, 7-6 (3) her third straight win over the two-time Grand Slam champion.
Wozniacki's path to the final
Wozniacki has also looked good, only dropping one set in the tournament, looking strong in victories over Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 7-5 in the first round, Viktorija Golubic 6-4, 6-2 in the second round, Kateryna Bondarenko 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the third round, CiCi Bellis 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals and Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-final, a rematch of last year's U.S. Open quarter-final.
Head-to-head
There has been one career meeting between Svitolina and Wozniacki with the Ukranian coming out on top 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (1) in the third round of Miami last year.
Who will win the championship?
It's been a fantastic two weeks for Wozniacki as she's reached the finals of both events in the Middle East. Last week, Karolina Pliskova overpowered the Dane in the finals of Doha.
Svitolina won't have the luxury of doing that in this championship match, but she's shown a new level of aggression since hiring former world number one Justine Henin as her coach. She took the initiative against Kerber and was rewarded for it. She'll need to do the same against Wozniacki, whose retrieving style often frustrates opponents.
With only one career meeting, there's not much history to base a prediction off of and both players have seen numerous seeded players lose in their section of the draw.
While Wozniacki seems to be back in excellent form, Svitolina's win over Kerber and her more aggressive style than that of her opponent makes her the pick to lift the trophy.