Sick Svitolina halts news conference after Kvitova win

Elina Svitolina had little time to celebrate her victory over Petra Kvitova at the WTA Finals on Sunday when the Ukrainian fell ill in the post-match news conference following her 6-3 6-3 triumph at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Svitolina tore up the form book by beating her Czech opponent for the first time in eight attempts dating back to 2014 but the 24-year-old soon halted questions about her win when she became light-headed in the media centre.

After leaving the stage and taking a few minutes to compose herself, Svitolina refused to elaborate on the exact nature of her illness, saying “I’m just not feeling good” when asked what the problem was.

Svitolina, who crashed out in the round robin phase of her debut appearance at the eight-woman season-ending tournament a year ago, will be hoping she can recover in time for her second White Group match on Tuesday.

Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki and Karolina Pliskova are the other players in the pool, with Svitolina due to play the winner of that contest next.