WTA Finals: Stephens, Svitolina to clash for title

Sloane Stephens overcame a terrible start against Karolina Pliskova to win 0-6 6-4 6-1 at the WTA Finals on Saturday, setting up a championship match against Elina Svitolina.

Both Svitolina and Stephens posted 3-0 round-robin records before winning their semifinals, making it the first time since Serena Williams met Li Na in the 2013 decider that the two finalists are undefeated.

Stephens leads the head-to-head 2-1, winning their most recent encounter in straight sets in the Montreal semifinals.

Svitolina was a 7-5 6-7(5) 6-4 winner over Kiki Bertens, the surprise packet of the tournament who only qualified when world No.1 Simona Halep withdrew because of a back injury.

This year is the first time since the round-robin format was reintroduced in 2003 that none of the top four seeds – No.1 Angelique Kerber, No.2 Caroline Wozniacki, No.3 Naomi Osaka and No.4 Petra Kvitova – reached the semifinals.

And, according to WTA Insider, nine three-set matches out of 14 overall makes this the most three-setters at a single edition of the WTA Finals since the round robin format was adopted in 2003 (the previous record was six, in 2009).

Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, let out a huge yell on breaking her Czech opponent’s serve in the third game of the second set after trailing 6-0, 2-0, 40-15.

“I came out here a little bit nervous and I wasn’t quite feeling the ball,” said the fifth-seeded Stephens, who is making her debut in Singapore. “I just tried to stay in it. I was very proud of my effort today.”

From there, the American found her footing and seventh-seeded Pliskova began to derail.

After Stephens had lost the first eight games, the American said she was thinking “I made it all the way to the semifinal, and I’m going to lose? … I was, like, I’m going to lose 0-0. It’s like I’m trying so hard. Nothing’s working. But then I won one game. Then you know the rest.”

Stephens reached her second Grand Slam final at the French Open in June. She has won one title at Miami this season.

“I think set and a half I was playing very well,” Pliskova said.

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Last year, Svitolina became the first Ukrainian woman to play singles at the WTA Finals. This year, she became the first woman from her country to reach the season-ending final after beating Bertens.

“It feels amazing and it was such a tough battle today,” said Svitolina, who pumped her fists and then blew kisses to the crowd after winning.

“I think physically in the end it was just about running and chasing every ball.”

Bertens played too risky a brand of tennis, posting 41 winners to 12 for Svitolina, but also making 63 to 36 unforced errors.

“There’s still lots of work ahead,” the sixth-seeded Svitolina said. “It’s the last match of the season, definitely now, and I’m going to give my best and leave everything on court.”

Svitolina is chasing her fourth title this season, having already won at Brisbane, Dubai and Rome.

Svitolina qualified for a second consecutive WTA Finals this year only because her Dutch opponent on Saturday failed to reach the Moscow semifinals.

Bertens saved one set point on her serve in the 10th game of the first set, but couldn’t repeat that trick in the 12th game, double-faulting at 15-40 to surrender the set.

Bertens failed to capitalise on four set points ahead of the second set tiebreaker, but pushed the match into a decisive third set with a return winner on her next set point.

Serving for her place in the final, Svitolina saved two break points before shutting Bertens down.