Elina Svitolina had her focus together early Monday morning at the Australian Open. The fourth seed gave very little to Denisa Allertova who faltered numerous times giving the Ukrainian a 6-3, 6-0 win at Rod Laver Arena on the grounds of Melbourne Park. It was the first time Svitolina reached the quarterfinal for the first time in the year’s opening major with another step towards world number one.
The two met almost two years ago in Doha where the 21-year-old Ukrainian suffered first round loss to the Czech in straight sets. Now 23, the world number four hoped to not repeat the same score and move herself deeper in the tournament than she already had. Allertova had yet to drop a set in the year’s first major while Svitolina had one big obstacle that took three to defeat. With the memory of her defeat by the 24-year-old Czech star, Svitolina would do everything in her power to not let it happen again.
Allertova chose to serve first starting just a few minutes before midnight with cooler conditions. The opening game saw her fighting Svitolina for a hold that went to deuce but saw the Ukrainian win the break on the second chance. The Czech turned things around in the second breaking Svitolina with a big return winner to level the score. Svitolina nearly had a double break in hand but her sliced shot landed just outside giving Allertova a chance to counter.
She secured the first hold after three breaks showing her energy and focus was alive and well at the late hour. Svitolina leveled at two all with her first service hold and upped the score adding two more for a 4-2 stance. Allertova climbed back within one but witnessed the Ukrainian focus on capturing another hold that gave her a 5-3 hold. The 24-year-old was on the ropes as the unforced errors became too much giving Svitolina triple set point to finish the first in 36 minutes. She didn’t miss much in her quest for control losing on three points from the first serve nailing seven winners that created the unforced errors which totaled to 21 for Allertova.
Svitolina saw more tallying for her opponent through the first two games in the second set making it easy for her to gain a footing. The lead energized Svitolina’s serve which saw her winning 86 percent on the first serve through the first three games. It was soon a 4-0 run for the world number four having the game locked on serve that produced more victories. She was soon playing for the match in the sixth where Allertova tried to avoid the bagel.
She had a 40-15 run to hold but erred twice letting Svitolina force deuce. It was all said and done when the Ukrainian reached AD point for the first time to bring an end with a winner that finished her night in 57 minutes. Svitolina had a solid first serve that didn’t require much from the second which was at 45 percent overall. The17 winners were a secondary weapon that brought down Allertova quick.
“It was a great match tonight,” Svitolina said during her on court interview. “I always take one match at a time and having a great start at Brisbane gave me a lot of confidence going into this tournament.”
New ground would be on Svitolina’s horizon as she faced Belgium’s Elise Mertens who she defeated in the finals at Istanbul last season. “She’s playing good tennis this season and its gonna be really tough, but I’m prepared and it will be a good match and give it everything like always.”
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