A mere three days ago, world No47 Barbora Strycova was down 2-6, 0-3, against Julia Goerges and looked on her way towards yet another early exit from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
On Saturday, the Czech 29-year-old will play the Dubai final, where she takes on former runner-up Sara Errani for a chance to win her first title since 2011 and just the second of her career.
Strycova, the third Czech woman to reach the Dubai title match in the last four years, halted a comeback from Caroline Garcia in the semi-finals on Friday night, to defeat the French world No38 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in a two-hour 13-minute contest.
Errani booked her place in her second career Dubai final with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Elina Svitolina, who was trying to emulate her newly-minted coaching consultant Justine Henin, who is a four-time champion in the Emirates.
This will be Errani’s first Premier-level final since Rome 2014 and the Italian is undoubtedly pleased to advance but Friday also saw her squander five match points alongside her doubles partner Carla Suarez Navarro in their 5-7, 7-6 (5), 10-7 bizarre loss to Chuang Chia-Jung and Darija Jurak in a two-hour battle.
“Well, at the moment very angry for the doubles, but of course, yes, to be in the final in singles is really special and amazing for me,” said Errani, who is renowned for her consistent style, running down every ball – a quality that paid dividends against Svitolina.
She looked evidently tired after a day where she played back-to-back semis in singles and doubles.
“I’m tired, but I know how to play when you’re tired. I just try to fight,” said the 28-year-old.
“I don’t think I’m really fit. I think there are other persons that are maybe much better than me physically, but I think I just try to fight, to suffer on the court and still keep going, stay there even if I’m dead.”
The good news for Errani is that she has a strong 5-1 record against Strycova, her final opponent.
Our finals are set. #ddftennis @BaraStrycova v @SaraErrani pic.twitter.com/j1UMVzZLhW
— Dubai Tennis Champs (@DDFTennis) February 19, 2016
Their most recent meeting was a third-set tiebreak win for Errani in Eastbourne last year.
“It’s going to be tough one. I lost to Sara in Eastbourne. It’s on grass. But I lost from two match points down. So revenge,” Strycova said with a big grin on her face.
The Czech has a fun personality, on and off the court, although mid-match she can get emotionally explosive.
She was composed enough to beat Garcia on Friday though, despite the Frenchwoman’s spirited comeback attempt.
Strycova entered the contest with a 3-1 head-to-head lead over Garcia, including an easy win over the 22-year-old in the Australian Open first round last month.
Garcia, a player picked by Andy Murray five years ago as a future world No1, was playing her first-ever semi-final at a Premier-level tournament, thanks to wins over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, No3 seed Carla Suarez Navarro and former top-tenner Andrea Petkovic earlier in the week.
Strycova drew first blood, breaking Garcia to go up 3-2 and spark a seven-game winning run, taking the first set along the way.
Garcia finally stopped the bleeding three games into the second set and took four games on the trot to inch ahead 4-2.
Strycova got the break back right away but Garcia got the advantage once again to serve for the set at 5-3.
The Frenchwoman struck a sublime backhand down the line to seal the set and force a decider.
Garcia kept things up as she broke to open the third set but she netted an easy slice to surrender the break.
A long backhand from Garcia gave Strycova two break points in game eight. Garcia saved both but faltered on the third and the Czech broke to put herself in the position to serve for the match.
Strycova saved two break points then aced twice to move into the final.
Asked when was the last time she finished a match with two aces, the 1.64m Strycova laughed and said: “Never… I’m so small, so for me it’s good to put an ace. And two in a row to serving for match, it feels great.
“It feels great to be in the final. I can’t believe it, actually, because it wasn’t easy match for me today.”
