Iga Swiatek failed to reach another Dubai Championships final as she lost to an inspired qualifier Anna Kalinskaya.
The semifinal loss was very surprising for Swiatek because she didn't play well at all. We didn't see much confidence from the Polish player, who sometimes had some pretty bad body language.
She struggled greatly with her return and sent many balls wide and into the net. She does do that at times, but this was a far worse effort compared to how she played the Qatar Open final a week ago.
She's fully aware that it's a bad loss, too, as she was quite angry during her talk with the media after the match. With all due respect to Kalinskaya, who played a solid match and is having an amazing week, she's not on the same level as Swiatek, generally.
Speaking after the match, Swiatek laid out some things that didn't really work out. One of those was feeling tired, which she warned about after the WTA 1000 event in Doha. She felt like there was something missing in this match and there certainly was.
"It's been intense 2 weeks. I'm angry, but on the other hand there aren't many other players that survive these kind of tournaments. I just have to kind of let it go and accept it."
Swiatek also gave credit to her opponent explaining that Kalinskaya did deserve to find herself in the final. That's true as well because Swiatek never really looked comfortable in the match and that's a hall of a job done by the Russian.
"She played well. For sure she deserves to be in the final. I feel like it was more about me & my level. I wasn't able to implement any tactics that I had. I just wasn't able to make anything that made sense today on court. Maybe I did in first 6 games but then it just…"
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