Elina Svitolina had the toughest match of her week to date at the US Open Saturday. The fourth seed battled off the fierce Shelby Rogers in two tough sets that gave her the 6-4, 7-5 win on Grandstand Court at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center. It was a new moment for the young Ukrainian as her victory put her into the second week for the very first time at the year’s final grand slam.
Both were back in the third round with the hope of surpassing their best career finish at the Open. The world number four had the best chance against the American having beaten her for a second time. Svitolina didn’t have it easy as Rogers showed her willingness to compete taking the Ukrainian the distance once again. With a round of 16 spot up for grabs, it was what both wanted most to improve their history at the tournament.
Svitolina opened with a serve to love and extended the points streak against Rogers. The 24-year-old got a grip on her opening serve and stopped Svitolina in her tracks to get on the board. The Ukrainian brushed off the loss of the first break and got one in the fourth that consolidated her service hold. Just when it looked as if the fourth seed would have Rogers figured out, the American struck back with a vengeance. She broke Svitolina and delivered the double break that put them in a three all tie.
The 22-year-old brought a halt to Roger’s surge and won her game in the seventh to step out front and try to put some hard ground in between the two. It remained a one game buffer that Svitolina hoped to bring an end to with the 5-4 hold on Rogers. Getting the break against the American proved harder than ever as she saved break points against the Ukrainian. A mistake set up Svitolina on her first attempt that ended with Rogers smashing the ball into the net to finish the set in 37 minutes. It was her 14th unforced error of the match that came at a time where her game was doing work.
She made Svitolina pay early in the set as the Ukrainian opened the door with two double faults in her second service game. It got Rogers into contention but by the fifth she was still a game down as the fourth seed made up for the lost chances. Two more victories went swiftly in favor of Svitolina who reached 5-2 and was ready to shut down Rogers for the match. The pressure was on Rogers to hold in the eighth. She held the world number four to a point and capitalized to stay alive.
Svitolina got her first chance at serving for a spot in the fourth round and instead saw Rogers rip the opening point right by her. She fired another win far from the Ukrainian that energized the crowd and herself. Svitolina generated points for herself that took the air out of Roger’s attempt with match point but her return went long to force deuce with the American. They went five breaks with one another as Svitolina’s attempts to end the day were answered with line drives from Rogers that held her get the break and stay alive.
Svitolina wanted the game more than anything and proved her worth by setting up deuce in the tenth. She struggled to keep the pace with Rogers who at times brought the game inside the court giving her the best chance to score. On the advantage point, Rogers locked it down with a well-placed drop shot that Svitolina completely gave up on setting up the second to go the distance.
It was another game to deuce between the two with Svitolina gaining the edge with a ball landing wide. She carried it home where the 22-year-old finished with just enough focus left in her game to bring it in and get a fourth-round spot for the first time in her career. “It was a very tough match,” Svitolina said after the match. “Shelby was fighting till the end and she has a big heart and it’s amazing what she did the last match and pushed me to the limit.”
“I was just trying to earn my moment, trying to fight for every ball and wait for my opportunity and it worked really good and the last ball I was lucky.” “I’ve been working really working really hard to get to this stage and I’m very happy to go through top matches and play great and hopefully I can go further in this tournament and play my best.” She’ll face the winner between Elena Vesnina and Madison Keys in the coming days.
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