Cori Gauff put up a great fight but broke down in key moments at the Australian Open. Elina Svitolina bided her time, waiting for the American to falter in her straight-sets win at Rod Laver Arena winning 6-4, 6-3 in night action at Melbourne Park.
This marked a key moment for the favored players to have met for the first time. The fifth seed had yet to experience the type of game the young American had. With an opening-round win over Jill Teichmann, the teen put herself in place to show the Ukrainian her skills that took down last year’s champion: Naomi Osaka. Marie Bouzkova put up quite a finish in her straight-set loss to the world number five two days ago. With some consistency issues, it would be up to Gauff to play every point and wait for her time to strike and take control.
They took six minutes to play the opening game, with Gauff comfortable placing herself near the net to force deuce. Svitolina had the last laugh, forcing the teen to err to secure the service game. Gauff sped through her serve, allowing the fifth seed just one point before making it difficult in the third. While she didn’t break, she continued to hold serve with the Ukrainian through four.
They held through another four games, with each laser-focused on completing the service holds. When it came to the ninth, Svitolina got behind on the score but finished things with an ace to keep Gauff behind. The pressure increased for the teenager, who served to keep the set going but fell behind handing Svitolina breakpoints for the set. The American saved one of them on a low return, but the next went into the net closing the first in 37 minutes. With the last game being the difference-maker for the fifth seed, she had to remain patient and let her opponent slip up big once more.
Svitolina scored the important hold over Gauff to begin the second as the teen fumbled during a rally committing a bad return on deuce. She recovered with the service hold on Svitolina, getting back to business with containment while holding the balls. The next four games were holds of serve, with the sixth standing out for Gauff, who defended so well from her end keeping Svitolina back from break chances.
The eighth game was her point at failing to continue holding the Ukrainian back with too much power on the returns. With the key break point of the set, Svitolina served for the match at 5-3 scoring a winner for the opening point. A net-front smash had the teen out of the way to secure a 30-0 hold for the fifth seed. Gauff answered back with a nice crosscourt, but the effort came too late for the 16-year-old. Svitolina reached two match points on a ball returned long by Gauff and broke the heart of the American with a smash that forced the final error of the night. It was a 1 hour and 17 minute victory that brought the Ukrainian back to the third round for the seventh time.
‘It was a great match from both of us,” said Svitolina during her on-court interview after the match. “It was really high level, and we served terrific today, and then I had a real chance to break and I took it and pleased with the performance today.”
She’ll take on Yulia Putintseva in the third round to determine who would make the second week of action.
No comments:
Post a Comment