Svitolina just too hot to handle
Ukrainian storms past Muguruza, Halep on same day to set up final with Wozniacki
Elina Svitolina’s advance planning could use some work, but her tennis game is in excellent shape.
Down a set to world No. 4 and 2017 Wimbledon champ Garbine Muguruza in a Rogers Cup quarter-final that was suspended by rain on Friday night, the No. 5 seed from Ukraine didn’t even bring a second dress to the Aviva Centre Saturday morning in case she had to play her semifinal at night.
However, Svitolina, 22, rallied to beat Muguruza 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and then — after going back to her hotel for some new clothing and a bit of rest — hammered No. 2 seed Simona Halep of Romania 6-1, 6-1 in a 56-minute semifinal.
“I was a set down and (Friday) it went late,” Svitolina said after securing a spot in Sunday’s final against No. 6 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.
“I got back to the hotel at like 12 (a.m.) and went to sleep at 1. I didn’t really think about it. The hotel is not so far, so I was just going to think about this (quarter-final) match first and give it everything I have.”
She did just that against Muguruza and then Halep, unleashing powerful and accurate groundstrokes time and again to improve to 7-1 against top-five players this year. Perhaps, then, she should have considered that strong mark before setting her travel schedule for the next tournament in Cincinnati.
“The funniest thing is (Friday) I had the ticket to fly to Cincinnati,” Svitolina said. “It’s really difficult to get to Cincinnati and there’s no tickets, so I needed to get them. Now we need to change them. I think it’s a good problem to have.”
The Toronto final features the women with the most wins on tour this year. Wozniacki, who beat unseeded American Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-3 in the first semifinal, has two more match victories than Svitolina, but doesn’t have a title to her name in five finals. Svitolina, meanwhile, has a WTA-high four tourney championships this year, including a 6-4, 6-2 win against Wozniacki in this year’s Dubai final on a hardcourt surface like Toronto’s.
Asked if the 0-5 record in finals this year weighs on her mind, Wozniacki chuckled and said, “No, not unless I get asked about it. I have put myself in great positions and, you know, I’m going to try and make the most of it (on Sunday).”
The challenge should be stiffer for both players in the final than it was in the semis. While Stephens put up a bit of a fight in her third tourney back after an 11-month injury absence, she made far too many mistakes to have a legitimate chance against a player like Wozniacki, who defends with zeal and limits her errors.
Halep, meanwhile, was flat from the outset in a rematch of a French Open quarter-final won by the Romanian after Svitolina was up a set and had match point in the second.
“In Paris, it was very difficult to have that, but I think it’s also the experience,” Svitolina said. “That’s why from the first point (Saturday) to the last one, it was very important. I was just 100 per cent on every ball and I think I just learned from that experience that I need to play to the last point and just one point at a time.”
Wozniacki has ended a Toronto drought this week, winning her first matches at Aviva Centre in 10 years. A 2010 Rogers Cup champion in Montreal, Wozniacki switched hotels and drivers this week in an effort to put an end to her slump.
“It’s been working so far this year,” she said. “If I’m back here in two years, I’ll do the same thing. I know that I’ve been playing really well this year and beaten a lot of the top players, but at the same time with the record I’ve had here in the past, I wasn’t really expecting too much of myself.”