By Chris Oddo | Wednesday, February 18th, 2015

 

Lucie Safarova ended Venus Williams' 16-match winning streak in Dubai with a straight-sets takedown on Wednesday in Dubai.

Photo Source: Francois Nel/Getty

On Wednesday, Lucie Safarova did what nobody has been able to do at the Dubai Duty Free Championships since 2005: Beat Venus Williams.

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The cagey Czech southpaw dropped only five first-serve points en route to a 6-4, 6-2 victory over three-time and defending Dubai champion Williams to set up an all-Czech quarterfinal against Karolina Pliskova. Safarova's second consecutive victory over Williams snaps a 16-match winning streak for the American at Dubai. Williams, who won the event in 2009, 2010 and 2014, also had won her previous 25 Dubai sets prior to Wednesday.

Safarova came into Dubai with a 1-3 record on the singles court, but the 28-year-old Czech says that her doubles triumph at the Australian Open with Bethanie Mattek-Sands has actually helped her grow confidence in her game of late.

‘It helps you a lot,” said Safarova. “No matter what, Grand Slam title is a Grand Slam title … It gave me a lot of confidence and motivation as well to do well in tournaments in both doubles and singles.”

Safarova won eight of the first nine points to take a 2-0 lead in set one, but Williams eventually rallied to level at 4-all. In ensuing game, however, a Safarova dipping passing shot proved too much to handle for Williams. The American deposited the shoestring volley into net to hand Safarova the break and the Czech never looked back from there.

“I think she played awesome,” said Williams, according to Dubai Duty Free Tennis. “There were a couple of games there that I didn't even get my racquet on the ball. What can I say to that?”

Safarova would reel off consecutive breaks to jump out to a 5-1 lead in set two before serving out the match to close affairs in a tidy one hour and six minutes.

Also falling prey to the upset bug on a busy day in Dubai were Ana Ivanovic, who fell to rising Czech Karolina Pliskova, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. The 22-year-old hammered 13 aces and broke the Ivanovic serve six times to advance.

The biggest seed to fall was second-seeded and 2013 Dubai champion Petra Kvitova. The Czech fell to Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

In other action, Flavia Pennetta took out Angelique Kerber, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, while Ekaterina Makarova took out Zarina Diyas, 6-3, 6-4.

Top-seeded Simona Halep was also a winner in the first match of the night session. The Romanian eased past Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-4, 6-3.