Elina Svitolina made a comeback for the ages as she left victorious at the US Open. The world number 23 returned from 0-3 down in the final set to win it all against Lauren Davis 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 on Old Grandstand court at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center Wednesday
The Ukrainian hoped to get the three peat on the American after beating her twice back in 2014. The now world number 19 still had plenty to work on as her opening round against Mandy Minella didn’t go smoothly. The 21-year-old went to great lengths to beat her in three sets coming back strong with force. The same went for Davis who had to earn her second round spot; fighting with Aliaksandra Sasnovich for the win. With the two placed into the round of 64 it would be a question of who would break ahead first and become the eventual winner.
Svitolina consolidated the hold of serve with a break on Davis to take an early 2-0 lead. Davis responded with a break of her own as the Ukrainian had a couple of errors in the game. Svitolina pushed back to build the gap in the fourth that included a 16 shot rally where she leveled to deuce. A sweep of the advantage and the game point gave her the two game margin with the ball back in her hand.
Another strong service hold for Svitolina made it a 4-1 rally against the 22-year-old who searched for progress from her offense. She got into a deuce draw with Svitolina where after three breaks, it was an unforced error that made it 5-1 for the Ukrainian to serve for the set. She easily took care of business scoring a double set point to end the first in 34 minutes. Despite a rough second service, the 22nd seed ran with her first serve, three of five points on the break, and six winners to be out front.
The second started much differently as the American held her end to take the opening game. Svitolina responded with a win of her own remaining on serve through the pair. The two kept on pace in the set with Davis still leading the way on the service hold. The pressure was on David as she watched Svitolina easily win her games with such strength that a break would soon come. In a surprise, the American got the important break in the eighth that put her in position to level the match.
Svitolina was saved from the end as Davis started the game with a double fault putting the Ukrainian on the board. She added another pair of unforced errors that gave her opponent a double break. The game of the American got too much for her as she recorded another error giving Svitolina life to level the set on serve. She didn’t get the chance as Davis played the tenth with great shots on the return included a net front shot that sent the home crowd into cheers. The set took 43 minutes to complete leaving the door open for the American while the Ukrainian had no other choice.
The wheels were falling off for Svitolina was being outdone on court by Davis who took a huge 3-0 score in her favor. It wasn’t until the fourth that the Ukrainian got something going to prevent the dreaded bagel. Svitolina made a huge turnaround of the set and came back breaking Davis in the fifth before consolidating a hold of serve in the sixth.
A four game winning streak gave her the lead in the final set with everything going right for her while Davis seemed confused. The American never seemed to recover as she lost all hope of getting back in as Svitolina ran to the finish completing a solid comeback that ended the match in 1 hour and 54 minutes.
The difference maker in the set was Svitolina’s solid first service percentage that outdid Davis who managed just 15 of 29. The American’s second serve was all but out of commission carrying along a low return percentage. With much to work on she’ll head to the drawing board while Svitolina will take on Petra Kvitova once again.
Photo by: Al Bello/Getty Images
Photo by: Al Bello/Getty Images
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