Svitolina gets first round win at Australian Open

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Elina Svitolina got the win she needed at the Australian Open Monday night. The number four seed blew two games in the second set before securing her straight sets win over Ivana Jorovic

6-3, 6-2 on Court Three at Melbourne Park.

The Ukrainian regained some ground in the WTA rankings with her title win at Brisbane two weeks ago that gave her a fourth seed in Melbourne giving her amazing position to begin the year’s first slam. Svitolina hasn’t faced the Serbian before making the match slightly volatile. Last year she made the third round for a second time but with things getting better for her and a chance at being world number one by the end of the tournament a possibility, the 23-year-old would use her abilities and attempt to be successful.   

She had the lead in her opening service game but gave up an error or two to let Svitolina force deuce. She held her ground during the single break to keep the Ukrainian from dictating her own game on court. She did so in the second blasting her way to a win but couldn’t pull off a break just yet. The Serb held her own ground to lead the way through the third, but watched as Svitolina served to love for the first time in the match.

The pace remained with Jorovic who stayed out front in the fifth but a lead change was most wanted by the Ukrainian. Svitolina got her hold in the sixth and followed it up by breaking her in the seventh taking control of what would occur next. She held strong in the eighth that put the Serb on notice to find a way to stay alive in the set. She couldn’t as Svitolina held her off gaining set point before winning it on a line drive winner ending things in 34 minutes. She served 11 of 12 for points and five of seven on the second serve indicating her good control offensively. The 11 winners also helped mostly on the return end to figure out the remainder of her path in the match.

She had the second set well under control committing to big points that paid off huge for the 23-year-old. By the third game she was already up a break and success from two service holds. Jorovic was under plenty of pressure from the fourth seed who had a tremendous amount of energy. A double fault from the Serb gave Svitolina another game as she inched closer to handing the bagel to her 20-year-old competitor.

Svitolina played defense while laying down the shots that kept Jorovic down and into a 0-5 rout. The world number four put her opponent on the chopping block as she went for the match. In a surprise to some, Jorovic avoided the shutout by a final service hold that wasn’t enough for anything else. Svitolina capped her day on the hard court by recovering from 0-30 to watching her opponent commit two unforced errors to level the score. Jorovic got deep into a rally that gave her the lead point and the win for a second game.

Despite the hard work it took Jorovic to get those wins, she had a tough finish in the eighth game that saw her make three straight errors and recover all of them to force deuce. On a fifth match point attempt, Svitolina got out of trouble bringing it to a close with a final error from the Serb. It was all said and done in 1 hour and 12 minutes that secured the number four seed a spot in the second round. Svitolina landed 81 percent of her shots on the first serve and had 23 winners on the night. More had to be done going forward as she faces Katerina Siniakova on Wednesday.