An unwavering Elina Svitolina claimed the biggest title of her career with a gritty comeback victory against Sloane Stephens at the season-ending WTA Finals in Singapore. The Ukrainian once again dug deep to triumph 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in two hours and 23 minutes on Sunday. She is the first player to go through the WTA Finals undefeated since Serena Williams in 2013.
Svitolina has been in brilliant, aggressive form in Singapore, beating defending champion Caroline Wozniacki, Czech players Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova at the group stage, and Kiki Bertens in the semi-finals. "It's a very special moment for me, I played great tennis this week," Svitolina said after the match. "This is going to bring a lot of confidence, as I have finished the season on a high note."
Stephens said she was satisfied with her debut WTA Finals. "Not the way I wanted to finish but I worked really hard to get here and I can be really proud of my results," she said. Having started slowly in the semi-finals, it was Stephens who made the running early and she broke Svitolina to love in the second game. It was a matchup of similar styles between the athletic counterpunchers and lengthy rallies punctuated the contest. Svitolina looked sluggish after playing the two longest matches in the tournament against Wozniacki and Bertens.