WTA Finals: Svitolina, Pliskova win first up in Singapore

After months of indifferent form, Elina Svitolina appeared to turn a corner on Sunday night with a resounding victory over Petra Kvitova at the WTA Finals.

In the first match of the tournament in Singapore between two players in the White Group, Svitolina beat the Czech 6-3 6-3 in under 90 minutes to send a message to the rest of the field.

Later on Sunday, Karolina Pliskova stopped defending champion Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets to round out the day’s play.

Since winning in Rome in May, Svitolina progressed beyond the quarterfinal stage at just one of her subsequent nine events. In the past month, she lost her opening matches at the big Chinese tournaments in Wuhan and Beijing.

And she was facing an opponent who in recent years had proved a nightmare match-up; Svitolina had not won a set against Kvitova since 2015.

All that changed on Sunday evening.

.@ElinaSvitolina opens the 2018 @WTAFinalsSG with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Kvitova!

Earns first win over the Czech since 2014! pic.twitter.com/AMILz9kMua

— WTA (@WTA) October 21, 2018

“I’m very pleased with the performance tonight,” said Svitolina, who kept her unforced errors to 11 while Kvitova sprayed 29 – including seven double faults.

“Definitely I had to stay focused and be really strong mentally. I think this was the key because she strikes the ball pretty hard and I have to really react really quickly and move my feet.

“I need a massage now (laughter).”

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That massage would be just reward for the work-rate Svitolina exhibited on the indoor hard court in Singapore.

Not only did she minimise her unforced errors, she was able to be aggressive when she needed to, pinning Kvitova back on the baseline with deep returns and solid groundstrokes and preventing the powerful Czech from attacking regularly.

There were moments when Kvitova got the first strike in, often thanks to a powerful first serve and evidenced by her tally of 29 winners.

Yet she was not consistent enough to trouble the world No.6.

"It's amazing to see all the happy faces and I'm very pleased with my performance." – @ElinaSvitolina after her big win over Kvitova pic.twitter.com/KUBzuoQ20E

— WTA (@WTA) October 21, 2018

Svitolina got a little tight serving for the match, but dug in during a lengthy rally and levelled scores at 30-30 when Kvitova misfired on a groundstroke.

A couple of points later, victory was hers.

“(You need) the best level you can ever imagine I think, because everyone is very strong,” said Svitolina when asked about the field at a tournament restricted to the world’s top eight singles players.

“From the beginning we have very tough matches and even if you don’t start well in the tournament, you’re still alive and fighting for a spot in the semifinals.”

Pliskova overcame Wozniacki 6-2 6-4, winning for just the fourth time in 10 meetings with the Dane.

Most impressively, she saved all 10 break points she faced in the 92-minute win, and turned the tables on Wozniacki after losing their most recent match at the same venue 12 months ago.

“Always tough matches against Caroline for sure,” Pliskova said.

“It was a very good match last year, the first set I think was an hour, so I gave my best today. It’s always tough to defend a title, especially here, so I think Caroline was nervous but I was very happy with how I played.”