World No4 Simona Halep is considered one of the shorter players on tour. And when she takes to the court for her first Dubai final on Saturday, she will face Karolina Pliskova, a player who at 1.86m is 18 centimetres taller than her.
But the petite Romanian is used to punching above her weight – or in this case her height – and while she admits she prefers not to take on opponents with huge serves and booming groundstrokes like Pliskova, Halep is ready for the challenge.
“When I was young I knew that I would be a short girl, not very tall,” said Halep, who rallied to beat Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the semi-finals last night.
“My idol was Justine Henin because we have the same height. So I think we are faster, we are much faster than taller girls. We cannot serve like 190 kilometres (per hour), so we try to be aggressive, to take the ball very quickly, and to finish the points.
“I’m trying not to focus on the height of my opponent, just to play my tennis and to open the angles because it’s the most important, I think.
“When I played against (Maria) Sharapova my first time I said that I’m half of her (height), so it’s not easy to play. But with experience you can go ahead.”
Pliskova isn’t just one of the tallest girls on tour, she is the WTA leader in aces struck this season, having fired 144 so far.
The 22-year-old Czech, who beat Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 to reach her maiden Premier 5-level final, will be playing Halep for the first time in their professional careers and will be seeking her biggest title to date.
Pliskova, who has played a WTA-leading 21 matches so far this season, was contemplating withdrawing from Dubai after her hectic schedule saw her make the final in Sydney, reach the third round in Melbourne, lead the Czech Republic to a Fed Cup win in Quebec, appear in the semis in Antwerp before flying to the UAE – all within a five-week period.
She said she had to come to Dubai anyway, even if she was going to withdraw, and next thing she knows, she is in the final. It was also a nice boost knowing that her twin sister Kristyna was winning her matches in a $50K ITF in Switzerland, and yesterday reached the semi-finals before Karolina stepped on court for her last four clash with Muguruza.
“I was already tired in Antwerp because I came from Canada to Antwerp. Here I was thinking if to play or if not to play,” said Pliskova, who will rise to at least No12 in the world thanks to her heroics in Dubai.
“I didn’t expect it at all that this can happen before the tournament, so I’m really happy to be in the final.”
Halep, who picked up a ninth career title in Shenzhen earlier this year, had come to Dubai low on confidence, after a shaky Fed Cup weekend, where she lost badly to Muguruza but still saw her Romanian side sneak past the Spaniards.
She had a rocky start against Wozniacki yesterday, dropping the first set quickly before launching a strong comeback. The top seed went up a double break 4-0 in the second set and levelled the match on an erratic forehand from Wozniacki.
Halep quickly went up 2-0 in the decider but the fifth-ranked Wozniacki struck back, wrong-footing her opponent with a smart backhand.
But Halep regained her advantage the following game, breaking for a 3-1 lead.
The Romanian saved two break points to hold the next game and the SI-MO-NA chants in the stands grew louder. She won the next two games, sealing her place in the final with a stunning backhand down the line winner that ended a lengthy rally.
Wozniacki has been battling a bad cold all week as well as managing a recurring knee injury and admits it had all finally taken its toll on her.
“I’m still pretty pleased with my week considering everything that has been going on. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough today. It was just like the air in the balloon just kind of went off,” said Wozniacki, who was playing her fifth consecutive Dubai semi-final.
