Elina Svitolina did not have the right moves to overcome the strategy of her rival at the BNP Paribas Open Monday. The world number four fell as Carla Suarez-Navarro used tactics to widen the court, use the forehand and pressure on the rallies to win 7-5, 6-2 on Stadium Two at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
This was the sixth matchup with the Ukrainian winning their most recent meeting where she kept the Spaniard back in straight sets on her way to a 10th WTA title. Since January, the 23-year-old capped her title defense at Dubai and got through her opening round match Saturday. While she had trouble against Suarez-Navarro in the past, the power of the world number four had an offense that could hold back the veteran Spaniard.
They began with four games running on serve with the Spaniard running the way each changeover. By the fifth she had a third straight service hold before breaking Svitolina in the sixth. The fourth seed followed suit breaking Suarez-Navarro before getting back into a tie at five all with someone destined to lead the match. With the serve game back in play for the 29-year-old, she took over with a break of Svitolina followed by a break that beat her straight up ending 50 minutes of play. While both of them had the offense well together, the difference maker was the return game which the Ukrainian suffered on landing 29 percent in the set.
With the need to improve having not dropped a set in the tournament, Svitolina began holding against Suarez-Navarro, but faltered with the chance to break the Spaniard. They went five games with the Spaniard back to leading the Ukrainian. The sixth gave the 29-year-old the break she wanted again in the sixth taking a two-game lead. Svitolina hunted down a shot to break her way back into the set forcing deuce against Suarez-Navarro. A wide-open return gave the Spaniard the AD point she needed to put the game out of her opponent’s reach sitting a game down of the match.
The world number 27 had her backhand still wrecking the game of Svitolina’s who struggled to find consistency in her competitiveness. She managed to avoid the end of her run but still had a lot of work to be done which included fighting off Suarez-Navarro’s first shot at serving for the match. She did not have a good start that saw Svitolina making it difficult for the 29-year-old.
The Spaniard remedied the situation widening the court for herself to come back from 0-30 and sit on match point. A long rally ended with Svitolina extending her night with a force of deuce but after it was achieved, Suarez-Navarro brought it to a close winning both points to end it in 1 hour and 29 minutes.
With the Ukrainian falling under what she brought last season, it would be a brush off for her as she would prepare for the next tournament on schedule. The Spaniard would take her success of the night and bring it into Tuesday to face Danielle Collins in the round of 16.
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