Rome [Italy], May 17 : World number 10 Elina Svitolina edged past two-time Grand Slam champion Coco Gauff to secure her third Italian Open title on Saturday.
Elina captured her 20th WTA tour-level title, beating Gauff 6-4, 6(3)-7, 6-2 in a two-hour, 49-minute match up at the iconic Foro Italico, as per Olympics.com.
Her amazing record at clay court finals was in jeopardy as she started with a loss in the opening game and was trailing 2-4 at one point in the fourth set. Following that, she regained her mojo, saving 14 out of 17 break points faced throughout the match.
The second-set however, witnessed a remarkable fightback from Gauff, who forced a tie-break and secured the second set, taking the contest to an exciting decider.
In the third set, Gauff made some mistakes early on and Elina was absolutely bang-on in capitalising on those. Gauff made seven double faults and lost to Elina for the third successive time. This also marks Elina's first Italian Open title since 2018.
"It is very hard to believe it's been eight years since I had this trophy," the triumphant 31-year-old said post-match as quoted by Olympics.com. "Definitely was an extremely tough battle," he added.
On her performances throughout the tournament, she said, "I am very happy with the way I could handle my nerves, not only today, but also throughout this tournament."
"It has been tough, but I am very happy with the way I have been playing, the way my body has been reacting in these tough matches. Just very proud of the effort," she added.
This is Elina's fifth WTA 1000-level tournament win and she has joined Poland's Iga Swiatek as the joint-highest winner of the prestigious tournament. This campaign featured her taking down some of the best in the sport, including world number two Elena Rybakina, world number three Swiatek and world number four Gauff.
Her clay court finals record is 8 wins and zero losses and weeks before the French Open, where she would be aiming for her maiden Grand Slam, this is a very good sign.