Simona Halep defeated Karolina Pliskova, 6-4 7-6(4) in the final of the 2015 Dubai Duty Free Championships to win her second title of the year. It was a really entertaining final, which concluded with a wacky final few games as Halep held off her nerves and a spirited effort from Pliskova. Halep needed just one break of serve to wrap up the opening set. Halep faced a break point in consecutive service games at *1-2 and *2-3, saving the second of those with a delightful backhand down-the-line. Pliskova didn’t play a bad set at all, but lost it on one sloppy service game. In a game where Pliskova didn’t miss a first serve, she was broken to love. An overhead dumped into the bottom of the net didn’t help her cause. Halep hit just one less winner than Pliskova and played a very smart set as she maintained her position on the baseline and did not allow Pliskova to overwhelm her.
The first set was a good watch, but things were a little scrappier to start with in the second. Halep and Pliskova exchanged breaks before Pliskova went off court for a medical time-out for a lower back complaint. The quality picked up in the seventh game as the pair exchanged six consecutive breaks of serve. Halep served for the match at *5-4 and *6-5 in the second set and had a match point in each game. Pliskova saved the first match point with a beautifully constructed point and Halep double faulted on the second one. Pliskova had a mini break in the tiebreaker to lead *4-3, but a string of errors saw her title challenge fade into the abyss as Halep sealed her first title in Dubai.
I really enjoyed Dubai this week. There were plenty of good matches and I always like to see upsets, particularly where the players making the upsets actually take advantage of their opportunity in the draw. I watched back the final set of the first semi-final between Garbine Muguruza and Karolina Pliskova, which was brilliant. I’m excited to see what both Karolina and Garbine do over the course of the year although I really hope Karolina doesn’t play Doha and has some time off! Pliskova will move up to number 12 in the world with her run to the final. Halep didn’t play her best tennis this week, but still came away with the title. This was a legit run with victories over one of the hottest players of the year in Pliskova and against two top ten players in the quarter-finals and semi-finals. There have been a few comments about easy draws for Simona, but I really don’t think that can be said this week. Next stop, Doha…
Screencap from TennisTV coverage
Moo's Tennis Blog 
Bravo SIMONA HALEP ! You are the best.Go ahead !
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Congrats on another title, Simona! 🙂 Just patches of her brilliance this week but she seemed to have a hunger and a determination to make a point after the Melbourne QF debacle.
Good match. Some of the rallies, especially in the 2nd set, were awesome as were some of Simona’s ‘gets’. However, Simona, there was a bit too much drama for my liking towards the end of the 2nd set. 😉
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Congratulations to both Simona and Pliskova. Simona was expecting to win going into the final. For one thing, physical attribute is something she can’t improve. She will be beaten by someone who can consistently hit the balls really hard to both ends of the court such as Serena, Sharapova,Muguruza, Venus (she lost three times to her) and Keys.
I also believe Pliskova has found this formula to beat Halep in the future. Hence, she should be very pleased with the results after playing so many matches in two weeks, after all she has to deal with fatigue issues.
I think Roland Garros is the best shot for Halep to win her first grand slam. I hope she can win more than one but it is very much depend on her future draws. She couldn’t close up the final match proved that Pliskova is a real deal from now on. Will see if Halep can prove it again in Doha.
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Halep won’t play Doha. She will rest and prepare for the 2 Premier Mandatory tournaments that are starting mid March in USA, IW and Miami.
She has played Doha last year ’cause it was a Premier 5 event. Hence they switched ranks with Dubai she played Dubai this year.
Doesn’t make sense to bother for a tournament that has became three times smaller as it was.
If she makes one semifinal at one of the biggies in US, she will earn more as winning the tournament in Doha
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According to the tournament officials, she will defend her title in Doha :). Where did you get the news that she would pull out?
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Me. Your news travel faster than WTA. Kudo to you.
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Very nice wrap-up. Like you I thoroughly enjoyed this week, and happy to have discovered Karo (definitely a real deal) and this blog 😉 Also happy that Simona had stepped up and now could use return serve as another of her weapon. Hope that continues… This year, I am “on” for women’s tennis. Karo, MUG, Markovam, Keys, and with Vic and improved Simona… all very very good news, for me 🙂
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Loved it!!!She is o FIRE!!
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