Svitolina defeats Wozniacki in final
Power proves to be difference
Elina Svitolina defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-0 to win the Rogers Cup women’s tennis tournament on Sunday at Aviva Centre.
The 22-year-old Ukrainian used powerful groundstrokes and a big serve to keep the sixth-ranked Wozniacki off balance.
A break at love at 4-4 gave the fifth-ranked Svitolina the edge in the first set. She wasn’t threatened again in the 77-minute match.
Svitolina had a clear edge from the baseline thanks to her impressive retrieving ability. Wozniacki was forced to go for more winners and started making more unforced errors as a result.
Wozniacki, a 27-year-old former world No. 1 from Denmark, varied her shots throughout the match, combining power with more looping topspin returns.
Svitolina wasn’t fazed, as her consistency and power game proved to be too much.
It was Svitolina’s fourth victory over a top-10 opponent this week and third win in two days.
She beat ninth-ranked Venus Williams in the third round, topped No. 4 Garbine Muguruza in a rain-delayed quarter-final Saturday morning and downed No. 2 Simona Halep on Saturday night.
It was Svitolina’s third Premier 5 title of the year.
She earned US$501,975 of the $2.74-million purse for the victory.
Wozniacki, who won the Rogers Cup in Montreal in 2010, will take home $243,920.
Svitolina has reached five finals this year and won them all. Wozniacki fell to 0-6 in final appearances this season and is now 0-3 in career head-to-head matches against Svitolina.
Svitolina will rise one spot to a career-high No. 4 when the new rankings are released Monday.