Svitolina beats Halep, defends Italian Open title

Rome, May 20: Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina on Sunday overpowered Romania's Simona Halep in the Italian Open final, successfully defending the title and beating the top seed 6-0, 6-4.

Svitolina, world No. 4, needed 67 minutes to defeat the current world No. 1, to earn the 12th career title and her third this season following her successes in Brisbane and Dubai.

This was the second year in a row that Svitolina bested Halep in Rome, after winning the 2017 final 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.

This was also the third time Svitolina successfully defended a title, following her back-to-back wins in the Baku Cup (2012, 2013) and the Dubai Tennis Championships (2017, 2018).