Elina Svitolina was unable to capture her second title at the Dubai Tennis Championships after losing in the final.
Svitolina beat Coco Gauff once again to reach the Dubai Tennis Championships final for the first time since winning the title in 2017.
The Ukrainian had won all four of her previous WTA 1000 finals, but Svitolina was beaten by Jessica Pegula to bring that run to an end.
Following her defeat in the final in Dubai, Svitolina has posted two messages on social media to reflect on her week.
Elina Svitolina makes two social media posts after final loss in Dubai
Svitolina was beaten by Pegula, 6-2 6-4, in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
After being beaten in the championship match by Pegula, Svitolina took to social media to reflect on the positives.
“Gave it my all this week,” Svitolina wrote on Instagram. “What a great week here in Dubai! Thank you all for your continuous support and encouragement. It truly means a lot to me.”
Svitolina was met with many messages of support, including from two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza.
Muguruza wrote, “Great week!”
Svitolina then followed this up with a second post, where she spoke about her fighting spirit.
She said, “I can’t control everything that comes my way… what I can control is how hard I’m willing to fight through it.”
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Elina Svitolina is ahead of Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek so far in 2026
It has been a very strong start to the year for Svitolina, who won the title in Auckland and reached the Australian Open semifinals.
Despite reaching the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai, Svitolina will remain at the same ranking of world number nine.
Svitolina has risen in terms of the race to the WTA Finals though, which only counts ranking points earned in 2026.
The 31-year-old is currently third in the race to the WTA Finals, with only Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina and Pegula ahead of her.
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Svitolina has the same number of points as Aryna Sabalenka, but is ahead of the Belarusian as she has won more points at bigger tournaments, and she is a huge 1,181 points ahead of world number two Iga Swiatek.
After another strong week in Dubai, Svitolina will now have a week off before the sunshine double of Indian Wells and the Miami Open.
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