Shenzhen, Brisbane: World number one Simona Halep continued her preparations for the Australian Open by lifting the Shenzhen Open title after a 6-1 2-6 6-0 victory over holder Katerina Siniakova on Saturday.
In a rain-delayed match that was moved to the indoor courts, Romanian Halep got off to a flying start and did not face a single break point as she easily won the first set.
Czech Siniakova, 21, fought back to take the second set as Halep appeared to lose focus but the top seed regained her composure to break the Czech’s serve three times in the third set and seal a comfortable win.
“We had a great match today. I tried everything to win ... I just try to enjoy the moment even if it’s a little bit different indoors. It’s not easy but we did our job and I’m happy that I could win the first title of the year,” Halep said.
The success will be a boost for Halep, whose last triumph was at the Madrid Open last May, with the 26-year-old among the favourites to win her maiden grand slam title at this month’s Australian Open.
“It’s a great beginning of course to start the year with a title but thinking about the grand slam title is too far,” Halep added.
“I’m just taking it tournament by tournament and of course I will give my best in every match I will play and my dream is to win a grand slam.” With holder Serena Williams having withdrawn from the first grand slam of the year, Halep and Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, who won the Brisbane International title on Saturday, have made strong statements ahead of the event, which begins on Jan. 15. (Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru)
Ukrainian Elina Svitolina got the perfect boost ahead of the Australian Open by lifting the Brisbane International title with a 6-2 6-1 win over qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Saturday.
Svitolina, ranked sixth in the world, fired 10 aces and never faced a break point on the way to a 10th career tour title.
She raced to a 3-0 lead before 23-year-old Belarusian Sasnovich found her range with some lethal backhands and briefly threatened to make it a contest.
Svitolina, however, unleashed a series of powerful groundstrokes to break again and clinch the first set, before running away with the second to claim the title in just over an hour.
“It was a tough, tough off-season,” third seed Svitolina, also 23, said on court after the match. “To start with a trophy is always very, very special.” World number 88 Sasnovich, bidding to become the first qualifier to win the title in Brisbane, ran out of gas in her eighth match of the week and only her third career encounter against a top 10 player.
She had stunned sixth seed Kristina Mladenovic in the opening round and defeated last year’s runner-up Alize Cornet in the quarter-finals before battling past Anastasija Sevastova in the last four.
“Sorry for my play today,” Sasnovich told the Brisbane crowd. “It was an incredible week for Elina — she was better than me and deserved to win. It was a good week for me.” Svitolina, having landed her first silverware of the season, heads to the Australian Open with her eyes fixed firmly on a maiden grand slam trophy.
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios battled past defending champion Grigor Dimitrov 3-6 6-1 6-4 to set up a final against American Ryan Harrison at the Brisbane International earlier. In the other semi-final, Harrison came back from a set down to end the dream run of Australian wild card Alex De Minaur in a 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4 victory.
