Elina Svitolina put all her heart into winning at the Qatar Total Open but came up short of the answer Thursday night. In what was a fine show of control against Petra Kvitova ended in defeat in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 on Court One on the grounds of the Khalifa International Tennis Complex.
The world number three faced the veteran Czech star for an eighth meeting where she hoped to bring an end to the six-match losing streak against her. Svitolina’s movement up the ranks and high skills allow her to change the tide of the series and be the one that dictates in the match. A fight to victory against Agnieszka Radwanska gave the 27-year-old returning superstar a reason to push forward with her march back up the ranks and play like the force she is known to carry with her on the hard courts.
She took Svitolina for a break in the opening game but witnessed the same happening to her service game in the second. Svitolina got the break on an unforced error that leveled the score the way she wanted it against Kvitova. A double fault in the third didn’t help her efforts on serve but after a break on deuce Svitolina took the lead. Another battle on deuce ensued during Kvitova’s service that ended up playing to her advantage smashing hard returns in the rally to even the score at two all.
The two continued to hold serve through four games with Kvitova landing solid winners against Svitolina matching what she brought to the table. It continued on despite Kvitova racking up errors to her name while Svitolina minimized her own. As the set got closer to one taking control of the set it was Kvitova who broke the Ukrainian at the right moment to serve for the set. She put a cherry on top of all the work in the set to gain a complete hold of Svitolina and take the set in 40 minutes. While she had 13 errors, the Czech’s 19 winners made against Svitolina spoke wonders of her ability to conduct strong on serve and be set up.
With the need to start from scratch, Svitolina picked up where she left on serving to hold off Kvitova and push for control of the set. She and Kvitova got into pace of service holds until the 27-year-old made her move to counter in the fifth. Seeing a move from her opponent, Svitolina held on to her serve that saved a break chance for Kvitova to counter. After a chat with coach Andrew Bettles, the world number four seemed to have a grip on her end while dealing with that of her opponent’s.
Kvitova followed Svitolina but as they reached the ninth, she found herself unable to gain a break as the Ukrainian held her ground to lead 5-4. Kvitova got her serve to produce the much-needed game that allowed her to force Svitolina into extra frames looking for a shot to hold her off in straight sets. With just one chance to win the break, the Czech star got the job done earning the only break of the set to go for a shot at winning the match on serve.
Svitolina threw everything she had at avoiding the loss but over hitting the forehand only frustrated her more. She let it out on her racket before getting into the game on Kvitova’s errors. It was the end of free points to the Ukrainian star as Kvitova got it into gear reaching match point on her first try to seal herself into the quarterfinals after 1 hour and 29 minutes.
With the heat on to try and gain a second WTA title this season, the 16th seed would go up against Julia Goerges in the Friday’s quarterfinal.
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