Svitolina wins an easy match over Wang at US Open

Elina Svitolina delivered a strong victory at the US Open Friday afternoon. The Ukrainian remained calm and focused to win against Qiang Wang in a 6-4, 6-4 score at Louis Armstrong Stadium at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center. It was the second time that she achieved a third-round win that put her back into round of 16. 

The Ukrainian had to regroup in her fight against Tatiana Maria to come out with a straight sets win in the second round. She would look for three to be a charm against the Chinese star who has yet to face anyone in the top ten. They’ve played in the hard courts before where Svitolina was forced to play three sets in her wins at Indian Wells and Dubai over the past two seasons. With the expectation that she would have to do so again, the fifth seed would try to stay focused and keep the dictation on her side of the court.

She led the way with the service holds through three before a break chance gave her a 3-1 lead over Wang. She was in her comfort zone on serve in the fifth to widen the gap to three games over the Chinese up and comer. Wang avoided going a double break down and held to sit two down from Svitolina looked to stay dialed in but faced some big hits on the break to lose her first service game.

Wang was still fighting well keeping level with the Ukrainian in the eighth but the seventh seed had enough of being trailed so close and held before breaking Wang to complete the set in 31 minutes. The lead she had was due to unforced errors from Wang that came in the last few games. It helped increase Svitolina’s first serve percentage to finish a comfortable set.

Wang started the second set with the want to get on the board before it got out of her hands. With Svitolina having five backhanded errors, it gave Wang the chance to win it and consolidate it with a hold of serve in the second. Witnessing the sudden change got the seventh seed back in check to push herself to a lead before getting it done with a forehand winner. Wang struck back with two aces on serve in the fourth that maintained her grip on the set. Svitolina made sure to hold in the fifth to keep Wang within range.

A serve to love got her back to level terms in the sixth with the offense still at a rate where she could handle the situation. Wang was unable to keep up with the pace and created unforced errors that gave Svitolina a 5-3 lead to serve for the match. Wang wasn’t ready to give in so easily delivering with big returns away from the Ukrainian to earn another break. It was a one-game margin with Wang under pressure. She made back to back errors hitting it too much to land long of the baseline. A wide return gave Svitolina three match points that were secured on an easy net front lob back across court to end it in one hour and nine minutes.

“I gave a little chance to come back into the match and in the second she stepped up her game and I was just trying to react very quickly and wait for my chance and I think I earned my chance by playing very aggressive,” Svitolina said to Andrew Krasny after the match. She’ll need a lot going into Sunday where she’ll face Anastasija Sevastova who has been a threat to everyone in the late stages of the tournament. “She’s a tricky player,” Svitolina said about the Latvian. “She slices a lot and mixes up lots of shots so I’ll have to really be on top of my game and try to recover for it but enjoy my win today.”

Sharapova readjusts to win at US Open

Embed from Getty Images

Maria Sharapova got over some tough moments in the match to run for the victory at the US Open early Friday morning. The former number one fought deep with Sorana Cirstea to get the 6-2, 7-5 straight sets win on Arthur Ashe Stadium making it her 21^st straight playing at night on the court. While she got the result, it was a night full of issues with the shot clock, too many double faults and her opponent running out of challenges.

The two met for the first time in six years where Sharapova handled the Romanian easily in Beijing. With a step up on her on the hard courts, the Russian hoped to have a better outcome than she did two night ago where she struggled in the second set against an old rival from her past before getting the edge needed to win. With her not wanting the same thing to occur, the 2006 winner looked to give herself a comfortable hold on the big stage which she has been so comfortable with.

She didn’t show any of that in the first game committing two double faults on serve. It led Cirstea to push the envelope on deuce where they reached beyond the ten-minute mark. After five breaks, Sharapova got the win but knew that she had to get in speed faster. She made up for lost time and took the second game swiftly from the Romanian. After a tough service from Cirstea, Sharapova followed up worse in the third committing her sixth double fault and fourth of the game. Despite the massive problem, Sharapova was good in the rally but as she served again, she won a winner on the backhand. After one more break, they finished the game with Sharapova up 3-0 after an 11-minute battle.

Cirstea held in the fourth that led them to a small hold of serve but the Russian was still holding her three-game buffer. By the time she had the seventh, she pushed the Romanian out of the way to capture a 6-2 victory and get the set in the books after 50 minutes played. Sharapova had eight in the set overall but got the first serve running after the early moments. It took away from Cirstea who didn’t bring the same energy to her offense.

When the second commenced, she watched Cirstea capture the break and hold together in the second making for an interesting game changer. Sharapova made her way into the set with a hold in the third which soon led to the pair holding serve through the next four in which Cirstea led the way. Sharapova became frustrated with the calls made on her service game and gave the umpire some words about it. When she returned to the baseline, the 31-year-old leveled the score but again sat a game down with the Romanian breaking the Russian in the ninth.

A huge push for control game to Sharapova in the 11^th where she was intent on bringing the match to a close. The hold for her put Cirstea under pressure to keep it going and force a tiebreak. A double-fault gave her three match points where she clinched the third round with the Romanian smashing a return into the net ending 1 hour and 50 minutes.

“It’s a nice accomplishment but I still have many more matches in this tournament so that’s the way that I like to focus on things,” she said to ESPN’s Pam Shriver. “You gotta be a little crazy to be playing here past midnight”

She’ll get ready for another match against Jelena Ostapenko where they went deep in a match at Rome. “It only gets tougher from here,” she said. “Being seeded in the twenties you know you’re gonna get tough draws and play grand slam champions but I look forward to that one.”

Tsurenko downs Wozniacki at US Open

Embed from Getty Images

It was not Caroline Wozniacki’s night at the US Open Thursday night. With very little coming together for her, the world number two was stunned by her own lack of play and Lesia Tsurenko‘s calm to win 6-4, 6-2 at Louis Armstrong Stadium on the grounds of the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center. It became the biggest win of her career and her second career advance to the third round.

Wozniacki had one win against Tsurenko dating back to 2013 where she took her down in straight sets. While there was some challenges in her win over the Ukrainian, the two time finalist was playing on comfortable ground that she dominated the competition on. Getting in her groove would be a clear and concise way to advance into the next round.

She gained a two game lead with a service hold followed by Tsurenko’s loss of serve where she committed two double faults. She managed to break back in the third but as soon as she returned to service, she double faulted a third time. She racked up two more before asking for the trainer to come during the next available changeover. Despite the issues, the Ukrainian fought to play well on the rallies which helped her force deuce. Six double faults were in the books for Tsurenko but got lucky on a bad return from the Dane. After six breaks and nine minutes, Wozniacki was able to get the victory for a 3-1 score.

The Dane committed her second double fault of the match that did enough for Tsurenko to get the victory and be attended to by the physio. The conversation was about her right wrist and elbow and the pain it caused her. She took a medical timeout where an ointment was rubbed into her skin massaging the muscles in her arm. The time off court cooled down the second seed who struggled to keep up with Tsurenko with the score even at three each.

After the Ukrainian made it 4-3 she called for the trainer to tend to her arm that took time away from Wozniacki. The Dane still hadn’t found her groove to capitalize on Tsurenko who was fighting for every point in the eighth. They went six breaks and ten minutes before the game went to the Ukrainian who had a shot at earning her first set win over the world number two. After an hour and five minutes with the ball in hand, Tsurenko earned two set point against the struggling superstar. She called for the trainer during the break while Wozniacki left the court in hopes that a break would change the path of the match.

She held her serve in the opening game to make sure her opponent knew she wasn’t going out. Tsurenko answered to keep on serve which Wozniacki had no problems with as she found some room to move forward with the lead in hand. That disappeared when it looked as if she and Tsurenko would stay on serve but the Dane’s vulnerabilities came to light for the Ukrainian who got the break in the fifth to take the lead. An important hold for the Ukrainian put a concerning thought into Wozniacki who still hadn’t shown any dominance in the match.

It was a major advantage for the 29 year old who took a 5-2 lead with the opportunity to serve for the match. Despite the major moment in play for the Ukrainian, Tsurenko put Wozniacki on ice with a line drive winner that gave her a memorable win after 1 hour and 41 minutes. “I played more aggressive than before and more patient,” she said to ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi after the match. “I did it really well and I was patient for the points and I was waiting for that special ball and it worked many times.”

She hopes to get it to work against as she will going into the weekend facing Petra Kvitova who will be in her path Saturday.