Elina Svitolina of Ukraine celebrates after winning the women's singles round robin match against Sofia Kenin of the United States at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen on Nov. 1, 2019. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)
By sportswriter Spencer Musick
SHENZHEN, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- World No. 8 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine was made to sweat but defeated American alternate Sofia Kenin in straight sets, 7-5, 7-6 (10), in their purple group round-robin clash at the 2019 Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen here on Friday.
The two players had an equally split head-to-head with two matches apiece going into the meeting, but Kenin has given Svitolina more trouble. The Ukrainian needed three sets in all of the matches that she won. Svitolina is the only player to have not dropped a set in Shenzhen going into this meeting, and the result continues her perfect run.
Elina Svitolina of Ukraine returns the ball during the women's singles round robin match against Sofia Kenin of the United States at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen on Nov. 1, 2019. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)
Svitolina held her opening service to 15, firing off two forehand winners over the course of the 90-second point.
Kenin would respond with a hold of her own, but handed Svitolina two game points off a pair of double faults along the way.
A couple of forehand unforced from Svitolina would hand Kenin an easy hold of her own, and the American then went on to get an early break of another series misfires off both sides from Svitolina.
Kenin would keep it clutch for the next two service games, but started to rack up errors when serving at 3-2, letting the Ukrainian claw her way to deuce from 40:15 and get an equalizing break.
The American was undeterred, and broke back with a clinical hold to 15 to regain her one-point lead.
Sofia Kenin of the United States returns the ball during the women's singles round robin match against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen on Nov. 1, 2019. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)
The two players served out to 5-4 for the American, whose first serve percentage started to slip, dropping to 58 percent as she was broken twice more to hand Svitolina the set. Kenin's meltdown was especially acute at 5-6, she was up 40-0 on the service that she dropped on the way to surrendering the set.
Svitolina, on the other hand, tightened up considerably on service as she pulled ahead. She shot four aces off 65 percent first-service shooting on the way to sealing the opener in just 49 minutes.
The second set saw the two players serve out to 4-all, and then traded breaks to go 5-all. It was the American who was the far looser of the two, surrendering a set point and a quadruple break point.
Svitolina would see her own major meltdown. She created a match point off Kenin's service at 5-6 but was unable to convert. Kenin then held serve and forced a tiebreak, where Svitolina would go on to surrender four more match points before finally sealing the deal and ending a one-hour, 23-minute second set. The American coughed up 28 unforced errors in the second set to only 15 for Svitolina.
The result of the match has no bearing on the top spot in the purple group, which Svitolina already secured. The defending finals champion will face No. 7 Belinda Bencic in the semifinals tomorrow. ■
