By Erik Gudris | Saturday, May 2, 2015
Elina Svitolina won her third career WTA title with a straight sets win in the Marrakech final.
Photo Credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Ukraine's Elina Svitolina claimed her third career title by winning the Grand Prix SAR event in Marrakech, Morocco. The fourth-seeded Svitolina faced off against unseeded Timea Babos of Hungary in the WTA International tier final.
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When top seed Garbine Muguruza was upset early in the event, that created an opportunity for both Babos and Svitolina to contend for their first title of the season.
In the first set, Babos secured an early break en route to a 4-2 lead. Babos would soon serve for the set at 5-3 but failed to close it out. As a result, Svitolina managed to level the set and then go on to take it 7-5 with a backhand winner.
Babos again earned an quick break in the second set only to watch Svitolina erase the lead and put things even for 2-all. Babos again found herself a game away from the set, but Svitolina rallied to force a tiebreak.
Svitolina took control early and jumped out to a 4-2 advantage. With better serving and finding success with her backhand, Svitolina soon found herself at match point. Svitolina served out the match and the title with a 7-5, 7-6(3) victory.
Marrakech is now the third career title for the No. 25 ranked Ukrainian with her previous two coming in Baku. Svitolina is also now 3-0 in career finals.