Elina Svitolina of Ukraine returns the ball during the women's singles round robin match against Simona Halep of Romania at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen on Oct. 30, 2019. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)
By sportswriter Spencer Musick
SHENZHEN, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- The 8th seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine moved one step closer to defending her finals crown with a straight-sets 7-5, 6-3 win over world No. 5 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep of Romania in their purple group round-robin clash here at the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen on Wednesday.
Their head-to-head coming into the match was equally split, with four wins each in eight meetings, and the Romanian having won their two most recent clashes at Wimbledon and in Doha.
Simona Halep of Romania returns the ball during the women's singles round robin match against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen on Oct. 30, 2019. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)
Svitolina started off strong, making short work of her opening service, with a hold to love in just two minutes.
Svitolina breaks Halep's first service by employing solid groundstrokes from the baseline, and holds her next service with the help of 5 unforced errors from the Romanian, principally off the backhand side in the form of crosscourt and down the line shots sent deep.
Halep's deep shots continued in her second service game, but she managed to hold with the help of a pair of unforced from the Ukrainian.
Svitolina's unforced errors would keep rolling out on her service at 3-1, as Halep broke back to reduce her arrears to one game point.
Long rally on Simona's service at 3-2 showing off some incredible baseline shooting from both sides. Despite Halep netted unforced off a backhand volley, she managed to hold and pull level.
Halep brought Svitolina to break point on her service at 3-all, but was unable to convert due to a couple of nasty unforced errors including a forehand down the line sent entirely too deep that she unsuccessfully challenged.
Elina Svitolina of Ukraine celebrates after winning the women's singles round robin match against Simona Halep of Romania at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen on Oct. 30, 2019. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)
Both players then served out all the way to 6-5 for the Ukrainian, with exchanges characterized by long rallies often decided at the net.
Svitolina got the decisive break to seal the first set off some abysmal second service shooting from Halep and still more unforced errors in the form of deep shots from baseline. In all, Halep coughed up 21 unforced errors to only 10 winners on the way to dropping the opening set in just under an hour.
Svitolina both players held their opening services of the second set, with Svitolina bringing Halep to deuce but not managing to create a break point.
Halep then kept clutch to go a break up, but started to slip on her next service with a pair of netted unforced handing Svitolina a break of her own.
The two then served out to 4-3 for the Ukrainian. She demonstrated excellent control of her shots in getting a crucial second break and then staved off two break points on her final service to close out the match in one hour, 40 minutes.
"It was a really physical match, we are both chasing lots of balls. I was still playing very solid today, my defense was very good so I am very proud about that. Hopefully I can keep up this level and play well at the next match as well," Svitolina said on court after the win.
This second straight-sets victory means that Svitolina has now qualified for the championship weekend here at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center. ■
