Svitolina was on a mission to silence the "haters" this week and she should have won plenty of new admirers after taking on all comers to claim the biggest title of her career.

The Ukrainian will end the year at No.4 in the rankings, having made it five wins out of five by fighting back to defeat the 2017 US Open champion 3-6 6-2 6-2.

Svitolina has failed to go beyond the quarter-finals of a grand slam, but showed she can handle the pressure of the big stage in what was the last edition of the tournament to be staged in Singapore.

She said: "I think I have nothing to prove anymore to anyone.

"It's definitely a good statement for myself and good boost of, I can't say confidence, because I try to always have confidence in myself, to have it is my personality.

"I think for me it's just that the third set really showed that I was mentally tough. That's what made the difference."

Svitolina added: "I was clear with what I had to do on court. I have been working really, really hard. Even though my results weren't good, since Wimbledon, I had four or five weeks where I was on court and in the gym working.

"These past five months, there have been lots of work that I was putting in. That's why for me it was a little bit disappointing, and I was trying to stay very positive, because I was giving everything on the practice court and results were, not what I expected.

That's why I was a little bit sad."

Svitolina will take the off-season to make a decision on whether to appoint a new full-time coach, having split with Thierry Ascione last month but kept Andrew Bettles in her corner.

"I'm going to speak with Andy and see the best options, which coaches are available at the moment to try to work for some time." the 24-year-old said.

"It's a little bit easier to work during the off-season, because you're not like under crazy pressure. It's not the same as if you start, for example, you know, in the middle of the season.

"I have to really think. I don't want to take just a person and then, you know, split in two weeks. So it's a big decision."