THE two finals favourites claimed trophies at the Chicago Women’s Open and Tennis in the Land, with tight, yet straight sets wins appearing to be the theme of the day. In Chicago, it was Elina Svitolina who controlled proceedings to claim her first title of the year, while in Cleveland Anett Kontaveit cut off a five-straight finals losing streak to take out victory.

Svitolina claimed a classy 7-5 6-4 victory over French ninth seed Alize Cornet in just over two hours, extending her win record in finals to 16-3 despite a somewhat unconvincing season. Svitolina was clean on serve with a 61 per cent win rate off her first serve and backed up well on her second serve, also converting all six of her break points. Cornet was more efficient on serve, but battled with an ongoing leg injury which saw her require off-court medical time away from the Chicago heat.

“It was a good week here,” Svitolina said post-match. “Tough conditions the last few days, but in the end I’m very happy I could get a trophy. It’s a good feeling. I came here to get some confidence, play some good matches, and in the end it happened like that. I’m looking forward to New York.”

“It’s never easy to play against Alize because she’s a great fighter, she puts a lot of balls back, and when it’s conditions like this, you’re not only playing against your opponent, you’re also playing against the conditions … So you have to be smart with this game.”

In Cleveland, Ohio, second seed Kontaveit claimed a 7-6(5) 6-4 victory over unseeded Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu in one hour and 55 minutes. Begu, to her credit, worked in overdrive on serve to fire off five aces but had just as many double faults in an error-strewn contest, recording 25 unforced errors to her 27 winners, compared to Kontaveit’s 15 and 25. Kontaveit won 74 per cent of her first serve points off a 63.3 per cent clip and saved four of Begu’s five break point opportunities to clinch the title.

“I was really enjoying myself out there,” Kontaveit said. “I was really having a good time, I was really happy that the crowd was back, and I was feeling more comfortable on the court match by match.

“It was a really, really, really close match. “I got ahead in the first set, then probably got a little bit nervous, and then it was really point-by-point in the tiebreak. I was trying to stay as tough as I could, and get every ball back and just not miss, and I think that was my main focus.

“I was just trying to be as consistent as I could, and fight for everything. It’s really humid and warm out here, but I’m really happy with the way I managed to push through, and I pushed myself this week.”

All four players will head straight into the US Open with a great preparation this week behind them.

CHICAGO WOMEN’S OPEN FINAL RESULT:

[1] Elina Svitolina (UKR) defeated [9] Alize Cornet (FRA) 7-5 6-4

TENNIS IN THE LAND FINAL RESULT: 

[2] Anett Kontaveit (EST) defeated Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) 7-6 6-4

Picture credit: WTA Tour