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Simona Halep beat Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-3
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Romanian into Wimbledon final for the first time
WIMBLEDON, England — Simona Halep became the first Romanian woman to reach a Wimbledon singles final, defeating Elina Svitolina, 6-1, 6-3, !
Simona Halep has booked her place in her first Wimbledon final with a comfortable straight sets win over Elina Svitolina. Halep, whose best previous performance here was reaching the last four in 2014, proved too strong for Svitolina, who was contesting her first grand slam semi-final, with the Romanian coming through 6-1, 6-3.
Halep’s return of serve has stood out as she has progressed through the rounds this year and so it proved again against Svitolina, the first Ukrainian to contest a women’s grand slam semi-final. No doubt some early nerves contributed but Svitolina was unable to hold serve in an opening set in which Halep seized the initiative after a cagey start. Indeed, the first two games of set took all of 20 minutes – Halep eventually breaking in the first of them and then holding in the second. Svitolina broke back to love but could not back it up by holding with Halep taking command with a 4-1 lead.
By this stage, Halep was in her groove and the longer the rallies went on – and there were plenty that did so for a while – she was in the ascendancy. She wasted five set points at 5-1 but took the 2018 French Open champion and former world No 1 took the sixth with a forehand winner.
Svitolina’s serve was much improved in the second set, but so too was Halep’s – the Ukranian managing just one point on her opponent’s serve. Halep secured the crucial break at 3-3, going on to hold for 5-3 and while Svitolina saved the first match point, a backhand into the net on the second handed Halep the match. She will now face the winner of the second semi-final between Serena Williams and Barbora Strycova in Saturday’s final.
