Top seed Elina Svitolina beat ninth seed Alize Cornet 7-5 6-4 in the final of the WTA Chicago Women’s Open to claim her 16th singles title and first this season.
The world No.6 Svitolina played the inaugural edition of the WTA 250 tournament in Chicago after receiving a late wildcard. The 26-year-old came from a set down to beat Clara Burel in the first round before seeing off French duo Fiona Ferro and Kristina Mladenovic in the next two rounds. In the semifinals against unseeded Swede Rebecca Peterson, the Ukrainian hit 29 winners, including seven aces, and in the title match she pulled off a 100% break point conversion rate (6/6) to defeat France’s Cornet.
This is Svitolina’s 11th WTA title on hard courts. She did not travel to the United States for last year’s summer hard-court swing.
At the upcoming US Open, Svitolina is seeded fifth and faces Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino in the first round. (photo: Jimmie48)
