Svitolina wins Chicago Women’s Open

Final in Chicago. 

2021 Chicago Women’s Open - a WTA 250 tournament, on Hard, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, 22-28 August 2021.

No defending champion:

This is a new tournament on the WTA calendar.

Final:

Wildcard Elina Svitolina (1) (Ukraine) v Alizé Cornet (9) (France)

Head to head, Svitolina led 4-3, with Cornet winning the last encounter - Eastbourne June 2019.

In this match, the top seed grabbed the early break and had a 3-0 lead. Corner broke back in the fifth game and consolidated for 3-3.

Svitolina saved a break point in the next game while Cornet was more convincing when levelling at 4-4.

Three more break points were saved by Svitolina in the eleventh game, and she guaranteed at least a tie break by leading 6-5.

Cornet let a 40-15 lead slip, and Svitolina converted the first set point that arrived to lead 7-5.

The first five games of set two were a repeat of set one, Svitolina racing to 3-0, before Cornet breaking back to reach 2-3.

The next four games were breaks of serve which left Cornet serving at 4-5 to stay in the match.

At 30-30, the ninth seed lost the next two points, and Svitolina won the match 7-5 6-4.

This was the sixteenth title for Elina Svitolina from nineteen finals, and her first since Strasbourg - September 2020.