Elina Svitolina got her tournament started off right at the Nature Valley Classic Monday afternoon. The world number five and second seed had to fight off Donna Vekic in three sets to win 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 on Ann Jones Centre Court at Edgbaston Priory Club.
This was the third meeting and the first on grass making it an interesting match for the Ukrainian. Since her early exit from the French Open the time away has been good for the world number five taking time to recuperate and practice her way to the grass court season. She went 4-2 last year making it her least favorite surface to play on. Standing in her way was the Croatian who didn’t repeat as champion during last week’s Nature Valley Open but had some time to rest before getting into the mix. Vekic is 3-1 in what is a solid start prior to Wimbledon.
Her record was tested on serve in the second falling behind Svitolina who led. Getting deep in the rallies that pressured the Ukrainian, Vekic managed to pull together on deuce and win the first break. Svitolina kept the same strategy running launching the ball well to create long strokes on the forehand before initiating the strike volley that kept her on serve after three games. She earned the first break of the set as Vekic began to sum together unforced errors that made it simple for the second seed to take. She made it 4-1 holding back the Croatian who was still faltering on the first serve.
After getting the double break, Svitolina finished business in the set earning three set points on serve in the seventh to close out the set in 26 minutes. Vekic’s main downfall was her return game which struggled to respond against the 23-year-old whose forehand was too much to handle. Vekic’s coach Torben Beltz told her ways of adjusting her game and where to hit the ball at Svitolina to gain momentum in the match.
She opened the second set with a hold of serve but from then on, Svitolina took control. Unforced errors from the Croatian and a double fault in the third led to the break for the second seed. She had enough speed on service to hold the Croatian back gaining a 3-1 lead in the process. Vekic needed a hold and quickly earned it in the fifth to stay in touch with Svitolina. A big break got her leveled but the control changed in success for the 21 gaining a three-game winning streak leading 4-3.
With Svitolina’s return game beaten down enough, Vekic continued her strengthened service game and took down the second seed in the next two games to force a third set. Beltz came back out to praise Vekic for her efforts to come back while Andrew Bettles tried to keep Svitolina focused on making it hers to win.
It was not easy as the Ukrainian took time to contain the service hold followed by a fight from Vekic to stay leveled. She was broken in the third getting into a two-game hole as Svitolina held back Vekic’s attempt to break in the fourth. The second seed wanted nothing more than to stay ahead of the 21-year-old but had trouble containing the serve in the fifth. Vekic attacked late in the game to force deuce which made every point critical for Svitolina to capture. After two breaks, she got the result she wanted as the Croatian got too hot with the return shots.
The serve game from Vekic couldn’t get together in the sixth adding to her opponent’s full court press on the score that allowed the 23-year-old to serve for the match. She easily attained two match points putting Vekic away on a drop shot in front of the net to close out the first round in 90 minutes.
“I was just trying to play well and dominate the match but she played a couple of great points to break me back and lost a little bit of momentum,” Svitolina said after the match. “She was fighting back and it’s always nice to have when you’re playing such a good player who was playing well on grass.” Vekic served 56 percent with her best coming in the second set landing 11 of 14. Overall, the Ukrainian maintained her service game to keep above an average to come out with the victory.
“I’m very happy,” she said about the match against Vekic “Donna always plays really well on grass and I was expecting a really tough match so yeah very happy with the way I played today and of course with the win it always helps.” Svitolina would await the winner between Alize Cornet and Ekaterina Makarova in the second round.
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