Svitolina destroys Wozniacki in Toronto final
TORONTO: Elina Svitolina crushed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-0 to win the Toronto WTA trophy, capturing her fifth title of 2017 and her second final of the season over the former world number one.
Fifth seed Svitolina, of the Ukraine, needed just 77 minutes to beat Wozniacki on Sunday, blasting four aces and winning the final eight games of the hardcourt match.
She kept the sixth seed at bay with precision groundstrokes that had Wozniacki scurrying around the court to stay in the rallies.
“It has been amazing. The title’s very special for me and I am very happy that it could happen here,” said the 22-year-old Ukrainian who earned US$502,000 (RM2.16m) for the victory.
“Of course it brings me confidence, I have the experience from those finals, but I try to take it as a new challenge and always look forward to it.
Svitolina’s road to the final included wins over four top ten players.
She had a straight-sets demolition of 37-year-old Venus Williams and wins over fourth seeded Garbine Muguruza and second seed Simona Halep.
She has now won all the finals she has played this season, comprising Toronto, Dubai, Istanbul, Taiwan and Rome.
She became the first Ukrainian to reach the Top 10 in the WTA rankings by capturing the Dubai title in February where she beat Wozniacki.
Svitolina, who has a career record of 9-2 in finals, hammered 15 winners and won 63 points compared to just 43 for Wozniacki.
While Svitolina has been perfect in finals this year, Wozniacki has lost six consecutive finals and seven straight dating back to last season.
“Hopefully, I will get another chance to get the trophy,” Wozniacki said.
“It was a tough day. She played well. She mixed up the pace and made it uncomfortable for me out there.
“Today, probably I could have used some more pace, but she played really smart and used my pace to her advantage.”
Wozniacki got off to a decent start in the opening set but serving at 4-4 she double faulted at 0-40 to give Svitolina a 5-4 lead.
That proved to be the turning point as Svitolina held served to take the set then cruised through the second set in just 31 minutes.
Svitolina, who dropped just one set en route to the title, will rise to No. 4 in the world rankings today.
After finishing 2016 at number 19 in the world, Wozniacki put together a string of victories and is back up to No. 6.