Elina Svitolina Wins First Ever Rome Title

Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, ranked number 11 in the world, conquered the Rome tournament for the first time in her career on Sunday, defeating Romanian Simona Halep 4-6, 7-5, and 6-1. Halep capitulated after suffering an ankle injury.

Svitolina avenged her defeat to Halep in the indoor Sofia tournament in 2013 and won her fourth title of the season, following victories in Istanbul, Taipei, and Dubai.

Svitolina is the player with the most titles (4) and the most wins this year (31). She defeated Halep, the recent Mutua Madrid Open champion, who had also won 26 of her last 30 matches.

The Odesa-born player had never advanced beyond the second round in the Italian Open until now and unexpectedly won the title on Saturday in the semifinal after the neck injury retirement of Spanish player Garbiñe Muguruza.

However, the final was conditioned by an ankle problem suffered by Halep when the player from Constanța was dominating the first set. That incident didn't allow her to move comfortably and almost prevented her from competing in the decisive third set.

Halep closed the first set with a 6-4 victory, but had to call the physiotherapist twice to treat her ankle, which was seriously affected due to a bad step.

Despite experiencing strong pain, Halep decided to continue and held on until 5-5 in the second set before losing with a 7-5 that forced the third set.

The Romanian knew she needed to finish the match as quickly as possible, as her physical condition was destined to worsen, and losing the second set made her competition impossible.

Indeed, the third set lasted barely 30 minutes, with Svitolina facing an almost motionless opponent. In just over 20 minutes, the Ukrainian took a 5-0 lead and sealed her victory with a definitive 6-1.

Svitolina raised the Masters 1000 title to the sky in Rome and extended her streak of four consecutive victories this year against players in the top ten in the world.

With this triumph, Svitolina pocketed a check for about $572,000 and earned 900 ranking points, which will allow her to enter the top ten of world tennis starting next Monday.

Meanwhile, Halep had to surrender after briefly considering the idea of lifting the trophy and received a check for $285,900.