TORONTO: Elina Svitolina crushed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-0 to win the Toronto WTA trophy on Sunday, capturing her fifth title of 2017 and her second final of the season over the former world number one. Fifth seed Svitolina, of the Ukraine, needed just 77 minutes to beat Wozniacki, blasting four aces and winning the final eight games of the hardcourt match. She kept the sixth seed at bay with precision groundstrokes that had Wozniacki scurrying around the court to stay in the rallies. “It has been amazing. The title’s very special for me and I am very happy that it could happen here,” said the 22-year-old Ukrainian who earned $502,000 for the victory. Svitolina’s road to the final included wins over four top ten players. She had a straight-sets demolition of 37-year-old Venus Williams and wins over fourth seeded Garbine Muguruza and second seed Simona Halep. She has now won all the finals she has played this season, comprising Toronto, Dubai, Istanbul, Taiwan and Rome. She became the first Ukrainian to reach the Top 10 in the WTA rankings by capturing the Dubai title in February where she beat Wozniacki. Svitolina, who has a career record of 9-2 in finals, hammered 15 winners and won 63 points compared to just 43 for Wozniacki. While Svitolina has been perfect in finals this year, Wozniacki has lost six consecutive finals and seven straight dating back to last season. “Hopefully I will get another chance to get the trophy,” Wozniacki said. Wozniacki got off to a decent start in the opening set but serving at 4-4 she double faulted at 0-40 to give Svitolina a 5-4 lead. That proved to be the turning point as Svitolina held served to take the set then cruised through the second set in just 31 minutes. Svitolina, who dropped just one set en route to the title, will rise to No. 4 in the world rankings on Monday. After finishing 2016 at number 19 in the world, Wozniacki put together a string of victories and is back up to No. 6. Published in Daily Times, August 15th 2017.