Svitolina shocks Halep to clinch title

Ukraine's Elina Svitolina poses with the Italian Open trophy after beating Simona Halep in Rome yesterday. Pic/AFP

Elina Svitolina completed a stunning comeback to win the Italian Open and claim a WTA Tour-leading fourth title of the year. The Ukrainian came from behind to beat World No. 4 Simona Halep over three sets, triumphing 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 to move into the world's top 10.

Halep had stormed into an early lead, threatening to break early on before forcing her opponent into a series of unforced errors and consolidating a break before making it 5-2.

However, the turning point came as the Romanian suffered a heavy fall, going over on her right ankle. Despite losing consecutive games, Halep recovered to clinch the first set but her movement grew gradually worse as she called the trainer out.

The pair traded breaks early in the second set and Svitolina called the trainer out for a lower-back issue, before seeing a set point go to waste as Halep called an official medical time out.

Svitolina eventually made the decisive break to take the second set 7-5, and raced through the third as Halep struggled with her movement and could not prevent the 22-year-old claiming an emphatic victory.