Petra Kvitova got out of a late jam to make the fourth round at the US Open Friday. After going up 4-0 in the second, she allowed four wins to Elina Svitolina before closing her out in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
The Czech remained the heavy favorite in the series involving Svitolina as she continued to hold off the 21-year-old. Kvitova held off the fierce Ukrainian who took out Serena Williams at the Olympics but couldn’t outduel the world number 16 in order to get to the semis.
Cagla Buyukakcay nearly gave the number 14 seed a scare in the second round but fell in straight sets leaving the notion that beating her was difficult. For Svitolina, it became a huge opportunity for her to overcome the six-foot tennis star and use her small stature to get past the obstacle that has been in her way the last three times.
The Czech star answered with a break to start the opening set but she didn’t expect her opponent to respond the same way. She did just that causing some surprise from Kvitova who while remaining on break lost her focus on service in the fourth. She handed the Ukrainian four straight points to level her back at two all for a fourth break in the set.
Kvitova regrouped after handing a fifth straight point to Svitolina breaking the 22nd seed for the third time. With some effort coming out of Svitolina, she fought to stay near the Czech star through seven hoping to counter the actions of her second serve. The strategy didn’t work as Kvitova walked to a 5-3 hold on serve pressing Svitolina to break. The second serve of the Ukrainian couldn’t hold against the struggles handing the Czech the first set after 31 minutes.
The second began with Kvitova still being most dominant as she took a 4-0 rout on Svitolina whose second serve was still a wreck from the first. With that and her defense against the Czech a problem, it was likely to be enough fall for the Ukrainian. She began her strike back winning two off Kvitova in hopes to recover strongly.
The Czech opened the door for her in the seventh with unforced errors that allowed Svitolina to get within a game. With a three-game winning streak alive and well, the 21-year-old Ukrainian gained a ton of confidence playing one of the biggest serves of the match. The control to beating Kvitova led to a four-all tie and the chance to stay alive.
The Czech put Svitolina back in the hot seat holding service in the ninth that led her to play for the match. Every shot that Svitolina took was huge as she desperately wanted to stay in the match. Good rallies occurred between the two stars with the Ukrainian getting very upset when it was her making the mistake. She slammed her racket after giving Kvitova the lead but the damage was done giving the number 14 seed the overall victory completing 1 hour and 11 minutes of action.
The challenge for the two time Wimbledon champ was just getting started as she had second seeded Angelique Kerber or American Catherine Bellis in her sights in a fourth round match up Sunday.
Photo by: Jewel Samad/Getty Images
Photo by: Jewel Samad/Getty Images
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