The Open Capfinances Rouen Metropole, the WTA 250 in France, was won on Sunday by top seed Elina Svitolina, who prevailed over Olga Danilovic, the No 3 seed, 6-4 7-6(8), in a closely-contested 1 hour 58 minute final on the indoor clay.
I feel confident about my game, I trust my game. The way it was from the beginning of the tournament, some players played really well, but I stayed calm and kept fighting.
Elina Svitolina
The Ukrainian collected her first title in nearly 2 years, saving 2 set points at 4/6 down in the tiebreak before she converted her 4th championship point in her first career meeting with the Serbian.
“I feel very good, it was a good tournament for me,” Svitolina said after her victory. “Not an easy final, but very happy I could win all my matches in two sets, and play good matches. I’m happy with the start of the season.”
With the win, the former World No 3 extends her record in WTA singles finals to 18-4, her last appearance coming in Auckland in 2024, where she lost a close 3-set battle to Coco Gauff.
Svitolina, the current World No 18, raced into the final without dropping a set, dispatching Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse, 6-0 6-2, in just 61 minutes at the Kindarena in the Last 4 on Saturday evening.
Her opponent on Sunday, Danilovic, had defeated Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands, 6-4 6-4, after an hour and 34 minutes in her semi-final, which extended her winning streak to 9 matches ahead of the final, including winning the WTA 125 title at Antalya earlier this season.
In May of 2023, less than 2 months into her comeback from maternity leave, Svitolina picked up the Strasbourg title, but she had not added to her title count until this week.
In her Rouen tournament debut, it all came together for the Ukrainian, who clinched her 7th title on clay courts.
“I feel confident about my game, I trust my game,” Svitolina said. “The way it was from the beginning of the tournament, some players played really well, but I stayed calm and kept fighting.”
Olga Danilovic’s 9-match winning streak was brought to an end by Elina Svitolina in the Rouen final on Sunday
Svitolina lost her serve in the first game of Sunday’s final, but she regrouped and won 4 of the last 5 games to take the one-set lead, pocketing it with a backhand winner for a break at love.
The set proved to be the appetiser for a gripping second set, where Svitolina grabbed her 1st championship point at 6-5, 30-40 on Danilovic’s serve.
The Serbian, ranked 39, who won her 2nd career WTA title last year in Guangzhou, swatted that chance away, and pushed matters into the tiebreak, where she led 4-2 at the changeover after a bold forehand winner down the line.
The No 3 seed then carved out 2 set points at 6-4 in the breaker, when Svitolina missed a service return wide, but Danilovic’s errors on both those chances kept the Ukrainian in the hunt for a straight-sets win, and the top seed held 2 more championship points at 7-6 and 8-7.
Danilovic, though, slammed winners to erase those as well, but Svitolina remained unfazed, and fired her 6th ace to line up her 4th championship point at 9-8.
The No 1 seed converted that one with a forehand winner to seal her latest trophy, with husband Gael Monfils proudly watching from the stands.
Earlier on Sunday, Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic & Sabrina Santamaria of the United States won the Rouen doubles title, upsetting the No 1 seeds, Russia’s Irina Khromacheva & Linda Noskova from Czechia, 6-0 6-4, in just 63 minutes.
Krunic & Santamaria have a 7-1 win-loss record as a team. In the only other event they have ever teamed up for, they finished as Auckland runners-up in January.
This is Santamaria’s 3rd WTA doubles title, and her first in nearly 2 years, while Krunic is up to 7 WTA doubles titles, and this is her first since 2022.
