Elina Svitolina reached a milestone in her third round victory at the China Open Wednesday. The world number three took care of business against a fatigued Ashleigh Barty to move into the third round in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 on Lotus Court at the National Tennis Centre in Beijing. The Ukrainian reached her 50th match win this season in what was her first year of doing so.
The Ukrainian faced the Australian twice this year with her last victory over Barty taking place at Wimbledon. While it was a real fight from beginning to end, the world number three got through the first round to improve her run at the All England Club. She picked up another title since then and has truly risen through the ranks to get another shot at improving against Barty. The Wuhan finalist had some time off despite losing to Caroline Garcia. With the bye to her name, the chances of her dealing with the surging 23-year-old very much energized to deal with the same adversity that got her where she stands.
They opened with service holds through the first four games until Svitolina took over in the firth with a break. She added a second consecutive win on the break to give her a sizable lead but a fight from the Aussie kept things uneasy for the world number three. Barty fought with all her might to hold in the seventh going five breaks on deuce with Svitolina. The hold of the AD point for Barty was pivotal to stay alive but gaining a footing wasn’t meant to be for her in the set. Svitolina kept went up 10 points on her service that led to a 5-3 hold pressuring Barty.
The 21-year-old stood her ground against the Ukrainian to win in the ninth but as soon as the ball got back into Svitolina’s hands, she slammed the door shut. The third seed put down well placed shots across the board using focused aggression to end the set in 43 minutes. Svitolina had a well-rounded serve converting points on 14 of 17 shots on the first and 11 winners. It caused Barty to commit nearly two dozen errors despite putting up a strong fight near the tail end of the set.
She made an improvement into the second holding the opening game but the drive in Svitolina was alive and well. She broke the Aussie in the third striking out a break followed by consolidating with a hold. Barty wasn’t out of the competition proving so with a hold to love that she stamped with an ace across court.
The 23 year old kept herself two games ahead of her opponent but getting a win on the break in the seventh proved difficult for a time. Barty attempted with defense on deuce but the endurance got the best of her after four breaks in which Svitolina gained the AD on her fifth break point chance to go up 5-2. Svitolina’s ability to not drop a point on serve led her to serve for the match with comfort. Barty’s unforced errors assisted in the Ukrainian’s success giving her double match point where a return went into the net bringing a close to the match in 1 hour and 14 minutes.
With all the right moves on court, the third seed would face a tough opponent in Elena Vesnina to determine their fate in the round of 16 Thursday.
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