Elina Svitolina was tested by China’s Wang Xinyu in the \u200dAuckland Open final on Sunday but came through 6-3, 7-6(6) to kick off her \u200bnew season with her 19th WTA title.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old baseliner was not quite firing on all cylinders \u200cas she continued her preparations for the Australian Open \u200cafter a lengthy break, but had enough quality and experience to get past her aggressive 24-year-old opponent<\/a>.<\/p>\n “It feels amazing to win another title especially \u2060after a not great end to last season,” said \u200cUkrainian Svitolina<\/a>, three times a quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n “It \u200bwas nice to get tough matches here this week and win the final, \u200dhopefully we can build on that for the rest of the season.”<\/p>\n Wang<\/a>, playing her second WTA \u200dfinal but still \u200cseeking her first title, troubled Svitolina early on with some deep groundstrokes and well-executed drop shots but too often allowed the world number \u206013 off the hook with some simple errors.<\/p>\n Watched from the sidelines by husband Gael Monfils<\/a>, Svitolina broke for 4-2 on the back of a Wang error and served out with an ace to seal the opening set three games later.<\/p>\n World number 57 Wang had three break points in the fourth game of the second stanza but top seed Svitolina found her first \u2060serve when it mattered to get out \u200cof trouble.<\/p>\n