WTA finals: Elina Svitolina wins opening match against Petra Kvitova

Elina Svitolina made a successful start at the WTA finals in Singapore. The Ukrainian defeated Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic 6:3 and 6:3.

The start was nervous for both players at the start of the unofficial Tennis World Cup in Singapore. The first two players of the WTA finals were one break each.

Kvitova first gave her serve, then responded with an immediate re-break. After an initial phase of riding, the two players found each other and offered the spectators great tennis. Especially Kvitova tried to lure Svitolina to the net with stops again and again and did this mostly with success.

At the score of 2:3, the Czech player fended off two break points and Svitolina left good chances for the lead. A little later, however, the 24-year-old struck and took the lead with a break and 4:3. Only four mistakes in the first run gave Svitolina another break and thus the first set win with 6:3.

Kvitova clearly lacked the variation in the game, Svitolina was able to adjust to the serve of the Czech and answered with skillfully aggressive returns. The 28-year-old Czech didn’t want to back down and came to the net much more often as a result.

Svitolina went through a small phase of weakness at the score of 1:1 and lost the thread completely on the first serve. However, Kvitova did not use three break points and was back behind again. Svitolina returned to her strength from the opening set and grabbed the break to take the lead 4-2.

The Ukrainian, who seemed focused and hungry for success, did not give up her lead and celebrated an unchallenged opening victory in the end.