Elina Svitolina works late to advance at the BNL Internazionali D'Italia

Elina Svitolina remained focused in her third round match against Svetlana Kuznetsova at the BNL Internazionali D'Italia in Rome friday night

Elina Svitolina had a fight on her hands but edged late to move on at the BNL Internazionali D’Italia Friday. The fourth seed nearly saw a third set in her future but stopped Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6, 6-4 on Pietrangeli Court at Foro Italico. 

 A fifth chapter between the two would determine who would advance to the quarterfinal. Svitolina held the series lead 3-1 over the 35-year-old who last won against the Ukrainian four years ago. While this was their first battling it out on clay, the 26-year-old has a big advantage of winning the tournament twice before. After a six-month hiatus from competitive play, Svitolina came out charging, winning her second round against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. With another Russian in her path, the fourth seed required the same aspects to occur to be in control. 

Svitolina opened service but after her hold of serve, Kuznetsova did better from her end, leveling early with a serve to love. A charge from the Russian pressured the fourth seed but she managed to avoid deuce and keep ahead. A break in the fourth took away some of the troubles and delivered comfort to Svitolina’s offense. Two unforced errors and a double fault in the fifth handed the break to love for Kuznetsova putting her a game down. 

 The 35-year-old leveled to three-all to begin a service battle that had Svitolina taking the lead in the seventh. She never had a chance for a break as unforced errors on Kuznetsova’s serve helped her bring up five-all and go deep into the set. The Russian built up breakpoints in the 11th but the Ukrainian denied her that pleasure and held to go for it on Kuznetsova’s last try to extend. 

 The Russian had a 40-0 lead on the fourth seed, but a service to love wasn’t in the cards. She watched as Svitolina rose back to force deuce clinching the AD point was no easy task. After her second blown set point, the 35-year-old put the service on lock to force the tiebreaker. The fourth seed scored the opening point, but as it switched to the Russian, the score went to two-all with an unforced error causing her problems. 

 Svitolina took off with two points that included a mini-break of Kuznetsova. She held that gap between herself and the Russian until a 6-6 score came on a break back. The Ukrainian made sure to hold to lead 7-6 and drew an error from her opponent to bring an end the first in one hour and four minutes. Both players recorded 44 points each in the set with just five more errors to Kuznetsova’s name. 

 With very little difference in their outputs, the second set would be a time to change the pace if possible. A break for Svitolina was her best move to start things and consolidating the second with a service hold gave her the big edge. The Russian got on the board in the third and responded with a break of the Ukrainian. The fourth seed didn’t let that one go for free and broke back for a 3-2 lead. She held the sixth to return to serve with Kuznetsova following suit to stay close. 

An important hold in the eighth gave Svitolina the two-game gap and a try and play for the match. Moving Kuznetsova around during her service gave her the edge, followed by a pop fly that brought up a double match point. The 35-year-old saved both to force deuce and watched as a long ball from Svitolina kept her hopes for a decider alive. Knowing that she had the service, the 26-year-old remained focused, reaching three-match point attempts. On her fourth, a return from Kuznetsova landed long of the baseline ending the 1 hour and 53-minute battle.