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By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, October 30, 2019

 
Elina Svitolina

Defending champion Elina Svitolina broke four times stopping Simona Halep 7-5, 6-3 to surge into her second straight semifinal at the WTA Finals Shenzhen.

Photo credit: WTA Finals Shenzhen Facebook

Playing shrewd tactical tennis, Elina Svitolina stopped Simona Halep and stretched her season-ending winning streak.

Defending champion Svitolina broke serve four times topping Halep 7-5, 6-3 to surge into her second straight semifinal at the WTA Finals Shenzhen.

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It was Svitolina's seventh straight win at the season-ending event.




The 25-year-old Ukrainian improved to 2-0 in the Purple Group of round-robin play following her 7-6(12), 6-4 triumph over Karolina Pliskova in her opener.

"It was an extremely physical match," Svitolina told Andrew Krasny afterward. "We are both chasing lots of ball. We leave lots of energy out on the court. I was playing very solid today. My defense was very good. So I'm very happy about it."

Continuing her quest for her first title since she rallied past Sloane Stephens in the 2018 WTA Finals championship match, Svitolina played cleaner tennis and struck with more conviction at crunch time today.

It was Svitolina's first win over Halep since she rolled the Romanian 6-0, 6-4 in the 2018 Rome final.

"I was expecting tough matches here when I was arriving," Svitolina said of her title defense. "I had to stay really focused from the beginning of each match.

"Hopefully, I can keep up this level and play strong the next match as well."

Clad in identical Nike white sleeveless tops and maroon skirts with matching maroon visors, both women are quick around the court and accurate on the counterstrike. Svitolina wrapped a pair of love holds around the first break seizing a 3-0 lead. 

The Wimbledon champion came right back breaking at love in the fifth game and confirming the break at 30 to level after six games.




Deadlocked at 5-all, Svitolina slid an ace down the middle then drew a Halep error holding for 6-5.

The Romanian's repeated affinity for the drop shot cost her in the 12th game. Halep netted a forehand dropper to open then watched a Svitolina return down the line buzz by to face triple set point. 

When Halep sent a forehand flying long, Svitolina snatched the 54-minute opening set exploiting 21 unforced errors from the two-time Grand Slam champion.




Both women are more stable hitting the two-handed backhand and can be more streaky on the forehand side.

The fifth-seeded Halep drew first blood in the second set breaking for 2-1, but the Romanian netted a routine rally forehand then stuck a running forehand into net to immediately give back the break.

Coach Darren Cahill came out after the fifth game and urged his charged to stay the course.

"She's doing a lot of the running, when you get her in the corners she's just going high and deep and when you're getting into the corners you're going big," Cahill said. "At the moment, you're doing all the attacking and she's doing all the defending. The baseline rallies are pretty good.

"Your forehand down the line has been excellent and she's just living off your errors. At the moment most of your errors are coming off panic shots."

Svitolina was sharp striking on the move and sometimes deceptive even flat-footed carving out a funky forehand slice winner that left her smiling.




The eighth-seeded Ukrainian held for 4-3 then called out her coach, Andrew Bettles, who advised her to pressure Halep's second serve and move forward on an angle to cut off the Romanian's forehand.

"On the return games keep putting pressure on her second serves," Bettles said. "Keep doing that. You may miss one, but she can feel that. Keep going after it, but keep giving it that margin.

"Be resilient every point. Be physical on every point on defense."

An ill-advised drop shot from Halep put her in a triple break point hole. Svitolina swooped in for drive volley that helped her earn the crucial break at love for 5-3.

Staving off double break point, Svitolina swept a crosscourt forehand for match point. When Halep slapped a second-serve return into net, the defending champion was through to the final four for the second straight year.

 

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