Former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, who lost in the Dubai final against Elina Svitolina, 4-6, 2-6, said that she got tired and allowed her opponent to get back into the match.
Last week in Doha, she also reached the final, but lost against No. 3 Karolina Pliskova.
“I think I started off really well. I feel like I was inside the court a lot,” Wozniacki said. “I was dictating and playing well. Then I kind of felt like I ran out of steam a little bit and [Svitolina] took advantage of that. She stepped it up a little bit. She played really well, got a lot of balls back. She mixed up the pace when she needed to. She was serving better than me today."
Currently ranked No. 15, Wozniacki has won 25 singles title in her career, but she hasn’t won a big tournament since 2011, when she won Dubai and Indian Wells. Last year, she won two small tournaments, Tokyo and Hong Kong and is playing better. But she appears to be a little bit nervous in the finals.
"I really tried hard," she said. "Obviously it's frustrating when you see what you want to do out there and you just can't do it. That's the most frustrating feeling. I feel like if I had gotten, maybe to 5-5 or, you know, gotten a little bit closer in that first set, it could have been different.”
Wozniacki is 25-19 in career finals.