22-year-old Elina Svitolina of Ukraine is into her fifth final of 2017 with a dominant 6-1, 6-1 win over world no. 2 and defending Rogers Cup champion Simona Halep.
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The first set was all about Svitolina, who was majorly benefiting from Halep’s errors. The Ukrainian stormed out to a 5-0 lead and had opportunities to bag the opening set with a bagel but defending champion Halep found her shots when it mattered and managed to hold that lone game.
Svitolina served out the set 6-1 after 25 minutes of play.
The Ukrainian continued her roaring start with a break of Halep’s serve to begin the second set. Errors continued to haunt the Romanian as she fell behind a double break within minutes of the first break. Svitolina appeared relentless and showed no signs of slowing down, making it very tough for Halep to get a shot by her.
What. A. Rally! Image may be NSFW.
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Clik here to view.— WTA (@WTA) August 12, 2017
Svitolina served for the match up 6-1, 5-0 and held match point, then Halep earned a little momentum to get one of the three breaks back. In the next game Svitolina turned the script yet again and broke for the match. The semifinal took 56 minutes.
With the win, Svitolina has defeated two Top 4 seeds in the same day. She’s won four straight sets with her wins over Simona Halep and Garbiñe Muguruza today. Her match against Muguruza was a three-setter, though it was suspended on Friday night after the first set due to rain.
Svitolina won all four sets she played today: 6-4, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.
This is Svitolina’s third Premier 5 final of 2017. She also holds a 7-1 record against Top 5 opponents this year – the lone loss coming to Halep at Roland Garros where she lost from a set up. When asked about that match in her post-match press conference, Svitolina said:
In Paris it was very difficult to have that loss, but I think it also was the experience. So that’s why, from the first point today until the last point, I was very focused and I was just 100% on every ball. I just learned from that experience that you need to play until the last point and just go one point at a time.
.@ElinaSvitolina knocks out Halep, 6-1, 6-1!
Into @RogersCup Championship vs Wozniacki! pic.twitter.com/KHz3dzRwFP
— WTA (@WTA) August 12, 2017
The Ukrainian has won four titles this year (unbeaten in finals) – Taipei City, Dubai, Istanbul and Rome. She holds eight career titles and has an 8-2 career record in finals.
Svitolina will face Caroline Wozniacki in the Rogers Cup final on Sunday. Wozniacki defeated Sloane Stephens in the other semifinal match player earlier on Saturday. Svitolina leads the head-to-head record against Wozniacki 2-0, both previous meetings coming on hard courts.
In doubles action, the final has finally been set after numerous rain delays continued to suspend play. The ladies final will be played top seeds Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina against no. 8 seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld/Kveta Peschke.
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