Source: WTA
Elina Svitolina didn’t have an easy day at the Rogers Cup but came out with a stunning comeback Tuesday. The world number five struggled in her return to the WTA Tour playing a tough match against Darya Kasatkina but won in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-4 on Grandstand Court at the Aviva Tennis Centre.
The two met for the first time last year during Svitolina’s quest to the finals of the Connecticut Open. Despite losing to the up and coming star, the Russian gave it her all against the Ukrainian pressuring deep into three sets before losing. In her debut to the Canadian tournament now faced a player who ranks fifth in the world and has been off the courts restful enough to be competitive once more. Svitolina wanted nothing more than to be the better in her opening since her debut in 2015 ended in the first round.
She had the break against Kasatkina in the opening game but couldn’t hold her own together in the second. It remained a huge battle for the Russian as she found ways to beating out Svitolina trailed a game after five decisions had elapsed. As the set got closer, the Ukrainian gained an advantage in the eighth that gave her a push to get ahead of the Russian and threaten to take the important hold. She had a chance in the ninth to put the 20 year old out but the important hold of serve for Kasatkina put her a game down on the fifth seed. Svitolina had one of the worst games on the day as she handed Kasatkina an easy victory to level the score at five all.
She served for the chance at overtaking Svitolina, but the Ukrainian was let into the game. The world number five hunted down the break point to secure the win and get a chance at locking down the set while on serve. For a second time, she was broken by Kasatkina who clearly on a mission to outduel her opponent. She took the opening point in the tiebreaker and led the way on Svitolina. It was a side to side run for the fifth seed who struggled to keep up with Kasatkina’s pace.
Svitolina brought the second serve into play which had her back out front on the score but not yet out of the woods. The Russian committed two errors off the forehand which set Svitolina up for two set points. Putting Kasatkina on notice, she forced her to run for the returns which became too much bringing an end to the set after 67 minutes. It was a relief for Svitolina who knew that she had trouble in the set having had three double faults. Her winners to errors ration was too even meaning more success had to come in the next set.
The young Russian made that difficult right from the break which she captured attacking Svitolina with the forehand returns on deuce. It was the same kind of pace that took her down once more giving the 20 year old a serious response on serve. Svitolina began taking her frustrations out smashing the ball to gain points but found herself struggling to hold. It opened the door for Kasatkina to force deuce leading to a third game winner.
Svitolina was under duress by the Russian who was in complete control of her game sending the Ukrainian all over the court. She held the world number five to just a single point in the fourth before winning it. The streak came to an end as Svtiolina’s aggression paid off for the first time in the set. During the break, she took another conference with Andrew Bettles who tried to encourage her to get into the set despite the tremendous adversity.
She broke to love in the sixth smashing the returns in her attempt to improve the second serve which was her main issue. Though it was a slow journey back to a point of level terms, Svitolina managed to hold in the seventh leaving her a game down on Kasatkina who went to her coach after the game hoping to put a stop to the newfound life of the world number five. Concern was weighing heavily on the 20 year old who began handing the Ukrainian another break to love which tied everything at four all.
Another victory for Svitolina allowed her the best chance to win the match with Kasatkina fatigued. She opened the tenth with a massive turn around getting to 40-0 on Svitolina. Everything turned in favor of the world number five who came back from the deficit to find a way to deuce and finished it after two break to conclude 1 hour and 51 minutes. “I’m a little bit tired,” Svitolina said after the match. “It was a little bit tricky. I didn’t start so well and I was doing a lot of unforced errors and I just trying to play and put back a few balls in the court and then it worked in the end playing more aggressive and finished with a winner and it was a good finish.”
Knowing she was back in and playing plenty of action on the hard court, she’ll continue to prepare for the round of 16 as she’ll face the winner between Katerina Siniakova and American veteran Venus Williams.
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