Elina Svitolina bags her maiden WTA title

Eighteen-year-old Elina Svitolina of Ukraine denied veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm a date with history when she overpowered the Japanese 6-2 6-3 to lift the Indian Open, her maiden WTA title. The summit clash was special for both the players as Svitolina was playing in her first ever WTA final while 42-year-old Date-Krumm was attempting to break USA’s Billie Jean King’s record of becoming the oldest singles winner on the WTA circuit. While Date-Krumm had the experience and the guile, Svitolina boasted of powerful ground strokes and a big serve and it was expected that the contrasting styles would make the summit clash an interesting affair. However, that was not to be. It looked like Date-Krumm, who had to come through an engrossing semifinal against Tamarine Tanasugarn, had not recovered enough for the final.