JAKARTA - Ukrainian women's tennis player Elina Svitolina started the 2026 season with a brilliant move. She managed to win the title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
In the final match on Sunday, January 11, Svitolina defeated seventh seed Xinyu Wang. He won with a final score of 6-3, 7-6 (6) in a match that lasted 1 hour 42 minutes.
The 31-year-old won her 19th trophy of her career, bringing her record in WTA Tour finals to 19-4, with an almost 83 percent winning percentage.
"It feels amazing to win the title again, especially after a year that wasn't so pleasant for me," Svitolina said in an on-court interview as quoted by the WTA, Sunday, January 11.
"But the break really helped me to prepare again. I'm very happy to get the title here," he continued.
Svitolina entered the WTA 250 Auckland with the title of the main seed and wanted to rise after the 2025 competition season ended with four consecutive losses. He was also forced to end the season earlier after suffering an injury after the Billie Jean King Cup final.
His efforts bore fruit because Svitolina was able to turn a string of four matches into five consecutive victories. He opened 2026 by defeating former Top 30 player Katie Boulter in the second round and Iva Jovic in the semifinals.
This victory makes Svitolina projected to rise one rank to number 12 in the WTA rankings.
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