By Chris Oddo | Sunday October 28, 2018
Elina Svitolina is awesome in finals.
And the Ukrainian was all of that and more on Sunday as she battled back to defeat WTA Finals debutante Sloane Stephens, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, to earn her biggest career title in Singapore.
Make it nine straight wins in WTA finals for Svitolina, and 12 overall, who becomes the eighth player in WTA Finals history to go undefeated over the course of a title run.
A victory hardly seemed possible in the early going, as Stephens, looking so comfortable on the slow-playing Singapore hardcourts, snagged the first set and did so in convincing fashion.
But Svitolina, undeterred, kept at in and proceeded to beat Stephens at her own game, winning nine of the final eleven games and running away from Stephens by never letting up even when she held the lead in both sets.
It was an incredible mental performance from both players, but again it was Svitolina who simply would not relent. She made the most of her opportunities and converted half of her break points, going six for 12, while saving 9 of the 12 that she faced.
"Today, not everything worked in the first set, but I fought back and that's what brought me to the win today,” Svitolina said after the match. “I'm very proud of this."
Stephens, who regained breaks in both the second and third sets, could not keep up the consistency long enough to stay on even terms with Svitolina.
The American drops to 6-3 in finals for her career, and 2-2 against Svitolina.
“Obviously not the way I wanted to finish, but I worked really hard to get here and I can be proud of my result today,” she said.
Svitolina, who entered the tournament as an afterthought, had struggled for much of the second half but showed why she garners consideration as an elite force and a future major winner all week in Singapore.
She started the tournament by dedicating her first win to the haters and doubters, and by the end of the week as she held the trophy high, there weren’t a lot of them left.