The Peninsula
World No.7 Elina Svitolina is hoping her ‘last-minute’ decision to feature at this week’s Qatar Total Open will pay off positively after a brief injury lay-off.
The Ukrainian has impressed with her form during the Australian Open where she lost in the quarter-finals to eventual winner Naomi Osaka of Japan.
However, last month, the 24-year-old withdrew from her country’s Fed Cup team in Poland because of injury and she is entering the WTA tournament at the Khalifa Tennis Complex as one of the four wild cards of the tournament.
“I did some time off because I needed to recover. And for me it was important just to take some time off to recover. I had some tough matches in Australia,” Svitolina, the 4th seed said, on the eve of the event.
“I didn’t plan to come here. I thought I’d have some more rest. But I was ready, I think, a little bit earlier. I always remember coming here with good memories, so it was a last-minute decision,” she said while explaining her change in plans.
Svitolina said she is slowly getting back in shape after the injury troubles in Melbourne.
“The injury was (for) my shoulder and my neck. I was struggling during the Australian (Open). It’s slowly getting better. It’s work in process, I would say.”
Things were not great on court for Svitolina for much of 2018 until the final week of the year when she defeated five top-10 opponents to win the WTA Finals.
In the season-ending championship, Svitolina won the biggest title of her career after mounting a three-set comeback win over Sloane Stephens.
Svitolina will be hoping to carry forward her consistent run when she opens her tournament campaign in the second round match against the winner of the tie between Mihaela Buzarnescu and Jelena Ostapenko. The Ukrainian is one of the four seeds who have got a bye in the first round.
The Qatar tournament boasts a stellar field and although, world No.1 Osaka withdrew from the tournament through injury, six of the women’s top 10 players have descended in Doha this week.
Former champion Simona Halep is the top seed and the Romanian will be joined by the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova and Germany’s Angelique Kerber as the top seeds.
All three were formerly at the top of the women’s rankings, Halep only being ousted by Osaka last month after Melbourne.
Halep, now ranked three in the world, and Kerber, sixth, are both Grand Slam winners. Pliskova, the world number five, is a former US Open finalist Svitolina, feels with many top-10 ranked players there will no easy games at the six-day tournament.
“There are lots of good players. We have lots of players who play well (and) who are consistent. I think it is a strong field, with top-5 and top-10 players. It’s not going to be easy,” Svitolina said.
“From the first rounds we have very tough matches. So this tournament is always tough. Everyone wants to play well. That’s why it makes it not easy at all,” she added.
All three top seeds of the tournament have a good record in Qatar.
Halep and Kerber met in the 2014 final, with the Romanian winning, and Pliskova won the title two years ago.
Svitolina said like all tournaments she is taking part she aims to win the event in Qatar.
“I always set high goals for myself for each tournament. Any tournament that I play, I always try to win it, to give everything what I have and to fight for every match and every point. I try to just stay focused for each match.”
Svitolina has previously played in the event on four occasions, with her run to the third round last year the best result she has managed in the competition.
Last year, Svitolina lost to Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova, who went on to win the tournament, defeating Spain’s Garbiñe Muguruza in the final. Kvitova, however, will not defend her title in Doha this year.