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Elina Svitolina won her WTA-leading fifth tournament of the year on Sunday when she rolled over Caroline Wozniacki in the Rogers Cup final at Toronto. Svitolina defeated four Top 10 players during the week, capped by a dominating 6-4, 6-0 victory over the sixth-seeded Wozniacki. The fifth-seeded Svitolina is 5-0 in title matches this season and has won nine career titles.
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The 22-year-old Ukrainian won the final eight games while improving to 3-0 lifetime against Wozniacki. She needed just 78 minutes to slay the Denmark native.
"Each time we play, it is always very tough," Svitolina said in a post-match television interview. "She plays very good. Now she's healthy and back on court playing well.
"It was an extremely tough first set but I was very happy I could serve it out, and to win the match in the second set I was quite confident and I was feeling really good."
The loss to Svitolina continued a disturbing trend for Wozniacki. She is 0-6 in finals this season and has lost her last seven title appearances.
"It was a tough day. She played well. She mixed up the pace and made it uncomfortable for me out there," Wozniacki said afterward. "Today, probably I could have used some more pace, but she played really smart today and used my pace to her advantage.
"I wasn't really expecting much out of myself when I came into the tournament. Obviously I haven't won a match (in Toronto) before, but it was a good week and I beat some great players, and I can really take a lot with me and be proud of that."
Wozniacki's frustration arose in the seventh game of the opening set when she twice slammed her racquet into the net after losing a point. She double-faulted the next point to fall behind 4-3.
Wozniacki won the next game and then Svitolina took over. She closed out the first set and steamrolled Wozniacki in the second to keep her perfect record in finals for the year intact.
"I try not to think about records and stuff," Svitolina said, "because it is really important for me to stay focused on my game and to go better on courts."
Svitolina celebrated wildly after winning the match and Wozniacki sounded like a player eager for another shot at her during the on-court celebration ceremony.
"I'm sure we're going to have a lot more matches in the future but congratulations on this tournament win," Wozniacki said to Svitolina. "Great week."
This latest victory will boost Svitolina up to fourth in the world rankings. She is in the mix for the No. 1 seed at the upcoming U.S. Open along with Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber and Wozniacki.
"I'm very tried, so I don't think much about it," said Svitolina, who defeated Wimbledon champ Garbine Muguruza and Halep in two separate Saturday matches. "Of course, I have my goals. First it was very important to have my game with me each time I go on the court."
