Elina Svitolina fought through every game she got deep into only to suffer an exit at the Australian Open. For a third time in her career, she fell at the hands of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who went on to the fourth round with a 7-5, 4-6 6-3 win on Margaret Court Arena at Melbourne Park.
The tournament reached the midway point of action and for both European tennis stars, it was a fourth meet. The Russian held the advantage over the world number 13 defeating her twice. The 22-year-old got a well-deserved victory against Pavlyuchenkova last season in Tokyo overtaking in the final stages of the tiebreaker before holding her off in the second. Svitolina hasn’t been past the third round reaching it for a third time in her career. With her game rising up the ranks, the Ukrainian might have the edge over her Russian rival to reach the round of 16.
Both opened the set with service holds with Svitolina answering the Russian in the second game. They remained on serve through four until the Ukrainian made a successful break in the fifth. Svitolina came back from 30-15 to overtake and landed break point as Pavlyuchenkova double faulted.
Troubles came right when Svitolina wanted to gain another game on the Russian but was instead broken in the sixth that leveled things back with a line drive away from the 22-year-old. She had smart plays in the seventh getting some winners into play with a smash to reach game point. A shot that Pavlyuchenkova thought would be the end of things turned into a good response by Svitolina changing the direction of the return. It led to the first deuce of the set that spanned four breaks until a rally came to a close with Svitolina’s return landing just wide of the line.
An important hold for Svitolina returned the set to status quo putting the pressure on Pavlyuchenkova to do well on serve or open the door for the world number 13. The Russian continued to be the one setting the bar for Svitolina to tumble on. When it came time for her to be well on the tenth, the 13th seed did well on service to win the game forcing the set forward. Pavlyuchenkova had something big to say about that flying to a 40-0 score in the 11th. Though Svitolina gained a point, the Russian held two points to lead 6-5.
The 13th seed was having troubles delivering tough shots to the Russian who seemed to have answers for them. It was soon her set to win taking two break points that came on a long ball from the Ukrainian ending the set at 50 minutes. Pavlyuchenkova had a better offense on the ball that her opponent who found trouble by scoring on 15 on 40 in the set. With so many winners being won by the world number 27, it clearly left concerns in Svitolina’s camp.
She came out of the gate in the second set, destined not to start by trailing and instead dictate her way to some ground. It wasn’t an easy task as Pavlyuchenkova fought to keep hold of service. They both went to deuce where plenty of breaks were in play. By a show of tremendous fight and effort, Svitolina gained the break hoping to add more along with it. The Russian blocked her from getting the service hold before pushing for a break.
The move allowed Pavlyuchenkova the lead after three but the Ukrainian had some fight left in her. She reached two game points on service but saw it erased by the Russian. It led to deuce and a quick break that gave the 25-year-old a 3-1 lead. A break for Svitolina had her close to the Russian winning the break on a bad backhand error. Problems were becoming slightly consistent that got Svitolina dead even through six hoping to continue changing the pace of the set.
The 13th seed turned out another win that had her sitting on a three-game winning streak overtaking Pavlyuchenkova at the right time. The chance for the set win got closer for Svitolina winning another important serve that put all the pressure on the 25-year-old. She had the lead on her service in the ninth but defense came up big for Svitolina who wanted to secure her chance of playing a deciding set. The two went four breaks before Pavlyuchenkova secured a win hoping to push to another extension of the set.
Svitolina denied her that chance and secured a chance to save her tournament run playing an important third set. The first serve improved for the Ukrainian with chances at the net giving her a slight edge. Her best would have to be well against the Russian going into the third. She challenged Pavlyuchenkova on service to start things off but a fight on deuce quickly emerged. It took some effort but after three breaks, the Russian opened with the service hold to start the third.
A second game broke Svitolina but the early run of the set still gave her a chance to get back in it. She did so breaking the Russian in the third in her way of not giving in. After five games Pavlyuchenkova led the way gaining an important break in the sixth that gave her a sizable margin. A strong service hold for Pavlyuchenkova gave her a huge 5-2 lead waiting for put the match away. Svitolina clawed out another win in hopes of delaying the Russian by any means.
It remained her mission going into the ninth but Pavlyuchenkova wanted to capture the win much more. She dealt with plenty of adversity in a game that saw the Russian attempting match point five times. A short rally on the attempt sent the ball high on Svitolina’s return just missing the inside of the line completing the 2 hours and 31 minutes that Pavlyuchenkova had to play in order to reach the fourth round.
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