Baku, Azerbaijan – Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine captured her first WTA title Sunday with a straight-set victory over Israel's Shahar Peer in the final at the Baku Cup.
Svitolina, playing in her first WTA final, earned a 6-4, 6-4 triumph. The 18- year-old became the first teenager to win a WTA crown since Timea Babos at Monterrey in February 2012.
"It was a very tough match today and I had a lot of tough matches throughout the week, but I worked really hard coming into the tournament, and it turned out well for me," said Svitolina.
Svitolina hadn't been past the second round in any of her first nine events of 2013, then reached the semifinals last week at Bad Gastein before this week's championship run.
Peer, who also lost to Svitolina in the first round of the season-opener in China, fell to 5-4 in WTA finals. She hadn't played in a title match since losing to Nadia Petrova two years ago in College Park and last won a tournament in 2009.
Svitolina claimed a first prize of $40,000.
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