In what continues to be a dream season for Elina Svitolina, the Ukranian knocked off sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-0 to win the Rogers Cup. The first set was a back-and-forth affair with five breaks of serve in the ten games played before Svitolina took control late in the opening set and sweeping through the second set to claim her third Premier 5 title of the season.
See-saw first set
Wozniacki was looking to make her own bit of history as she was seeking to become the first woman since Martina Hingis to win the championship in both Montreal and Toronto after having taken the title in 2010. She was under pressure from the start, saving a break point in her opening service game, but she wasn't as fortunate in her next service game. After a netted forehand set up a break point for Svitolina, an exchange of lobs saw the Dane's fly long and the Ukranian was ahead.
A double fault by Svitolina at 15-40 put the match back on serve at 2-2. Both players would settle down for a short time until Wozniacki missed a volley and double-faulted to set up double break point. Another double fault gave Svitolina the lead again, but she committed consecutive unforced errors on her forehand wing to again hand the break back.
Wozniacki's serve, never the strength of her game, was letting her down even more than usual, none more evident than at 0-40 with another double fault to hand Svitolina a 5-4 lead. The fifth seed again trailed on her own serve at 0-30, but dug out of that hole and at deuce, a pair of Wozniacki errors gave the world number five the opening set 6-4 in 47 minutes.
Svitolina cruises to the championship
The momentum for the Ukranian continued to begin the second set. After fighting back to set up break point, Svitolina blasted a backhand winner to take an immediate lead. The pressure was being piled on Wozniacki and she started committing errors at an alarming rate. At 15-40 an easy volley miss gave Svitolina a 3-0 double break lead and all but decided the outcome.
After losing a 40-0 lead only to fight off a break point, Svitolina held thanks to some more Wozniacki mistakes for a 4-0 lead. Feeling the effects of her opponent's powerful, heavy hitting, the Dane was starting to make routine mistakes, another volley that should be easy pickings was sent wide and another huge Svitolina return put her on the brink of the championship. She closed out the match with an easy hold to wrap up her ninth career title after an hour and 15 minutes.
Stats corner
Svitolina dominated Wozniacki's serve, registering six breaks while only facing three break points on her own serve. She won half of the Dane's first serve points and a stunning 77 percent on her second serve. The win also propels the Ukranian to number four in the world.