Svitolina and Nadal take the Italian spoils

The Italian Open has finished, and Elina Svitolina (4) successively defended her title, defeating Simona Halep (1) 6-0 6-4.

The first set was incredible - Halep 76% first serve and Svitolina 47%, yet Simona won only two of thirteen points on her first delivery.  Elina won six of seven.

Svitolina won 24 of the 32 points for the set.  While set two was more of a contest, Svitolina still faced no break points and converted one of four chances.  This was a final Halep will want to forget in a hurry.

Sascha Zverev (2) was placed on the back foot in his final against Rafa Nadal right from the outset, with the Spaniard winning most of the points on the German first serve - normally a strength for Zverev.

Nadal swept to a 6-1 lead.

Unintimidated, Zverev served throughout set two without facing a break point, but had Nadal on the defensive, and the top seed’s was the serve which suffered, less than half the points on the first delivery won for Spain.

The match was levelled at 1-6 6-1.

Nadal regained ascendancy in the decider, and it was the second serve which served him well.

Converting both his break points was enough to win the set and the title 6-1 1-6 6-3.

Rafa is back at world number one, directing Roger Federer back to number two.

However, in the ATP Points Race for 2018, it is Zverev who leads at the moment, ahead of Federer then Nadal.

Simona Halep has replaced Caroline Wozniacki at the top of the 2018 WTA Points Race, with Petra Kvitova lying in third.

This week there are four tournaments being held:

WTA

Nurnberger Versicherungs Cup 2018 in Nurnberg, Germany (International Category)

Top ten player Sloane Stephens heads the field, which includes top twenty players Julia Goerges and Kiki Bertens

Internationaux de Strasbourg in Strasbourg, France (International Category)

Top twenty player Ash Barty is number one seed in a field which includes top thirty players Dasha Gavrilova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 

ATP 

Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open in Geneva, Switzerland (ATP 250 Category)

Top twenty player Sam Querrey heads the field which includes top thirty players Fabio Fognini and Stan Wawrinka 

Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon in Lyon, France (ATP 250 Category)

Top ten players Dominic Thiem and John Isner head the field while top twenty players Jack Sock and Hyeon Chung also grace the event.