Elina Svitolina found herself once again a champion. The 22 year old completed another tournament run at the Rogers Cup defeating Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-0 on Centre Court at the Aviva Tennis Centre Sunday. It became the fifth WTA title of the season and became the first player since 2009 to win three WTA premier five tournaments. Svitolina picked up her ninth career title as she moved closer to becoming number one.
This was the third time the two top six players have met and the second time in the fight for a WTA title. Svitolina sought her fifth this season and a second against the Dane in which she beat her for the Dubai Duty Free Championships in February. The Ukrainian held Wozniacki to six games in that feat capturing her second of the season. To get into the finals, Svitolina had to finish off Garbine Muguruza in a delayed match and somehow found the energy to take down Simona Halep 6-1,6-1.
The world number five hasn’t been very lucky in finals so far losing five in a row. Her last attempt came in Bastad losing to Katerina Siniakova in straight sets. With such hard work put against Sloane Stephens on Saturday and the doubleheader Svitolina endured, Wozniacki would attempt to put an end to her struggles to have her hands on the Cup.
She began with dictating the pace of long rallies and long balls with Svitolina who had moments of answering the Dane. She reached break point but Wozniacki’s serve for an ace landed on the T giving her a chance to hold. After a 22-shot rally, an unforced error from the Ukrainian brought an end to the fight and a hold for the sixth seed. Svitolina held her opening serve in the second and brought the fight to Wozniacki thereafter. The 22-year-old had her eyes set on the break battling through another deuce draw before Svitolina captured a second straight victory.
Svitolina’s double fault in the fourth allowed Wozniacki to level up and find control on offense to regain the lead in the fifth. Svitolina answered back with an ace and played the inner part of the court against Wozniacki who had no chance of returning. A breakdown in the very next game handed the Ukrainian an advantage of being free to play out the remainder of the set. She continued to move closer to the net making it troubling for the Dane to get the ball back across. She gained some ground keeping the ball play behind the baseline to play Svitolina evenly.
Despite looking shaky near the end, Svitolina gained the first chance to capture the set with service in her favor. It didn’t start off as Wozniacki went up 30-0 to threaten, but Svitolina’s tremendous effort on points led her to reach set point. A redirect on the return allowed Wozniacki to force deuce but after a break, Svitolina had the good eye to see the ball land long on the second set point to finish the set in 47 minutes. Wozniacki had a rough second serve that caused her the issues of faltering from start to finish.
Svitolina was on a roll going into the second as she captured the first two games growing a winning streak over the sixth seed. The ground strokes from the Ukrainian and the mental thoughts were taking a toll on Wozniacki to remaining evenly competitive. It turned into a slow-motion car accident for the Dane as she was drained by the response on Svitolina’s part to be aggressive.
She took a 4-0 lead holding off a fight from Wozniacki on deuce that showed the Ukrainian’s management of emotional control. A seventh straight game went to the world number five as she coasted into position to serve for the championship. In a last-ditch attempt, Piotr Wozniacki came out and first listened to Caroline say what was going on. For the duration of the break, her father continued to talk to her trying to keep her concentrated and avoid the bagel.
It was not meant to be as the Ukrainian held her ground despite the final fight from Wozniacki to come back with two points and won it after 1 hour and 17 minutes. It was a massive victory for Svitolina who dominated Wozniacki for a second time in a final making it very clear who was moving in the right direction. Svitolina pulled off a feat of taking down four of the top ten players in the sport to win the title and clinches the number four spot in the world on Monday.
“I tried to not think that it was my fifth final and not to think about records because it’s very important for me to stay focused on my game and to go out there on court and do everything that I can on the day,” Svitolina said to ESPN’s Renae Stubbs. “Each time we play its always very tough,” She said about her opponent. “She plays very good and now she’s playing well. It was extremely tough the first set and I was happy to serve it out and win the match.”
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