Tennis: Svitolina wins Brisbane International

Brisbane Jan 6 (IANS) Elina Svitolina of Ukraine on Saturday became this season s first WTA title winner defeating Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-2 6-1 at the Brisbane International tennis tournament.

This trophy was the 10th title for World No. 6 Svitolina in her professional career after winning five titles in 2017 reports Efe.

The third-seeded Ukrainian needed 61 minutes to beat world No. 88 Sasnovich .

Svitolina was a semi-finalist in Brisbane in 2017 when she lost to Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic but the Ukrainian star improved her performance in this year s edition.

On her way to the final Svitolina age 23 also defeated Carla Suarez of Spain Ana Konjuh of Croatia Johanna Konta of the United Kingdom and second-seeded Karolina Pliskova.

--IANS
pur/vm