Elina Svitolina got through her first round match with some difficulty but found the light at the end Monday night. The Ukrainian rebounded after a bad first set to defeat Mandy Minella 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-2 on Old Grandstand court at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center
The world number 19 got an easy opponent to start her fifth appearance in the season’s last major. While fatigue might have played a factor in her opening round after playing the finals of the Connecticut Open Saturday, the 21-year-old Ukrainian had to brush off the loss of a title and get focused on surpassing her third round loss last year.
Her opponent got a good start to the first game with her own skills taking time to warm up. Svitolina was challenged on her service in the second being forced to deuce but coming out with the win to hold serve. The same occurred onward through four as the Ukrainian couldn’t hold down her end of the game fighting with all her might to get the victory. It wasn’t until the sixth that Svitolina got through a game on serve where she didn’t need to play deuce.
Despite the improvement, it was the 20 who had a grip on the set controlling her offense on serve as well as on the returns. She took the first break of the set in the eight that set her up for a shot at leading with a set win. The two made every attempt to win the game and played for nearly eight minutes and four breaks before it was Svitolina hanging on for the break.
She made a statement in the tenth leveling up the set at five all sending the two onward. An important break for the Ukrainian gave her the lead with the chance to counteract the early mistakes. Minella responded in the 12th with a fight to Svitolina that produced the save and a move into a tiebreak. The Luxembourg native kept a two point buffer between herself and Svitolina all the way to the end. She captured set point winning 7-5 that concluded 61 minutes of play.
In a dramatic reversal, the second set was all Svitolina as she came out in the first game and dominated Minella greatly. She found every part of her skills working for her at the right time and won game after game. It was becoming a landslide for the 21 year old as she took the set 6-0 finishing things in 23 minutes. Knowing that the same had to come in the third, Svitolina had to keep the heat on her opponent in order to coast into the second round.
The two began service as usual to start the third but as soon as the third game went into play, Svitolina took off with the score. Through the next three games, the 22nd seed took control away to gain a 4-1 hold. Minella found the ability to hold serve in the sixth, but as the ball went into the hands of Svitolina it was just a step forward.
The Ukrainian took a three game buffer to play for the match with some comfort. Though it took four breaks on deuce, Svitolina won the eighth on a rally where Minella committed an error on the backhand that concluded 111 minutes on court.
With another ranked player having trouble with their opening round, Svitolina would get another chance to play taking on the winner between American Lauren Davis and Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus on Wednesday.
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