Kvitova beats Svitolina to win Elite Trophy tournament

ZHUHAI, China – Third-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic overcame a slow start to beat Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday and win the Elite Trophy.

After losing her opening three service games, Kvitova won five straight games to take the opening set.

Kvitova carried the momentum into the second and dispatched the fourth-seeded Ukrainian in 1 hour, 10 minutes to claim her 19th career title.

“I played her in Wuhan and I was a break down there as well from the beginning of the match,” Kvitova said. “I just probably knew that it’s still not the end, so I was just trying to play point by point. That was kind of the style of the match.”

The result completed a dominant week for Kvitova, who dropped just 18 games in her four matches.

Kvitova has reached six finals in the WTA’s Asian swing, winning in Wuhan and Zhuhai.

The tournament in Zhuhai featured the 12 players on the tour who didn’t qualify for the WTA Finals in Singapore last week.