Svitolina to face Bencic in Dubai semifinal; Kvitova meets Hsieh

Dubai - Bencic stunned Simona Halep 4-6 6-4 6-2

Two-time defending champion Elina Svitolina of Ukraine took another step towards becoming the first woman to win three Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in a row with a straight-set (6-2 6-3) quarterfinal win over veteran Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro on Thursday night.
Svitolina was in terrific form again as she registered her third-straight straight-set win the tournament.
"I am really happy with the way I played tonight. There were some really amazing rallies. I was moving well, so yeah I am really happy with the finish," the sixth seeded player said.
Svitolina twice came back from a break down in the second set to tame the Spaniard.
"The second was tough. She is such a good player. But in the end my tactics worked today from the middle of the court to get the angles," she said.
The 24-year-old Ukrainian is aiming to become the first woman to win three straight Dubai titles.
Venus Williams and Justine Henin were the only other players to have won back-to-back Dubai titles.
If Svitolina maintains her form, she will have a terrific chance to make Dubai history on Saturday. But first she has to tackle the rejuvenated Belinda Bencic.
The 21-year-old Swiss stunned Simona Halep 4-6 6-4 6-2 to set up a clash with Svitolina.
"We played once a long time ago, so yes it's going to be a very interesting match," Svitolina said.
In the other semifinal, second seed Petra Kvitova will face Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan.
Kvitova beat Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia 6-4 6-0, while Hsieh won a dramatic three-set battle against fourth seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-4 1-6 7-5.

Thursday's results