Ashleigh Barty shuts the door on Elina Svitolina at Porsche Tennis GP

Asheligh Barty swung the racket big against Elina Svitolina during the semifinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Saturday 

Elina Svitolina thought she viewed light at the end of the tunnel but saw only darkness at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Saturday. Her chance to get the best of world number one Ashleigh Barty was cut short as the Aussie fought well into the third set to win 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 on center court at the Porsche Arena. 

The Ukrainian hoped that three was the charm against the reigning world number one player. Though she has two wins out of the six that they’ve played, it hasn’t been easy playing with her of recent. They met in the semifinal at Miami where Barty went on to dominate Svitolina in straight sets. The 26-year-old faced tremendous adversity in her two matches since her tournament began. Defeating Petra Kvitova was a massive task as it took the world number five three long sets and a comeback to get into the final four. As she faced Barty, who celebrated her 25th birthday, it would be up to her to remain consistent and spoil the party for the Aussie. 

The top seed worked the ball nearly perfect in her opening service, keeping Svitolina from returning the shots. The fourth seed launched a serve to love against the Aussie, but it didn’t take away from the forehand strengths that kept her out front of Svitolina. The two players didn’t have trouble securing service games until the seventh when the Ukrainian made the first strike. 

The first breakpoint came for the fourth seed who got the edge on a redirected winner that brought her the lead on Barty. Svitolina then took advantage of the eighth, scoring her second serve to love with two aces in the game. When it looked as if she had Barty right where she wanted her, the Aussie made sure to lock down her service game and get back within reach of a tie. It would need to come against the fourth seed, who had the opportunity to take the set on her terms. 

Holding Barty back two points gave the Ukrainian the edge as she gained two set points, holding her opponent back long enough to take the first set in 34 minutes. The fourth seed logged in a lot of shots from the first serve that performed at 84 percent, making a huge impact against the world number one. Though she committed fewer unforced errors than the fourth seed, Barty knew that remaining consistent with a high number of shots from the first service would get her back on track. 

She did so right as the second set got going, taking a stand by defending her serve on a break of deuce. For her efforts, she managed to consolidate her hold with a break of Svitolina, gaining her first sizable lead of the match. She made it three in a row with a near-perfect service game, keeping Svitolina back at all costs. The 26-year-old got into action in the fourth game holding serve but had a deficit to overcome. 

Barty kept the situation at status quo when she secured the fifth game maintaining a three-game margin. She sat two games away from forcing a deciding set until the Ukrainian began her comeback run that changed the situation for the Australian. Another serve to love was put together by the fourth seed, who added a break in the seventh to sit a game down. Finding so much comfort, Svitolina again scored a serve to love in the eighth that closed the gap. 

The 26-year-old achieved a dominant role over Barty, taking another game away from the world number one for the double break. Just when it looked as if the match was all in the hands of Svitolina, Barty struck back with the help of errors from the fourth seed. The 25-year-old had two break-back points that forced them into a five-all score forcing more to be played in the set. 

Barty knew that she couldn’t allow Svitolina to get out front in the set and in the 11th, making sure that she held serve. The Ukrainian ensured that the set would go to a tiebreak with a hard-fought service game in the 12th. The tiebreak was very tight as each had the lead through the first six points. As they reached closed to the key point, Barty edged out of her opponent, setting up set point with ground held at the net. She put the second away on an easy lob that Svitolina failed to get to, ending things in 55 minutes. 

The Australian improved the first serve that did work during the tense moments of the set where she increased the winners to 17 and had the same amount of unforced errors that of her opponent. After her opponent began the third with a hold of serve, Barty came out with force, scoring a serve to love. She fought heavily in the third, taking a 40-0 stand before Svitolina fought to get to deuce. In that game, they played the longest of the match spanning five breaks in which Barty had two breakpoint chances to secure the break. 

The 25-year-old consolidated the hard work with another service game to go up 3-1 on Svitolina, who was struggling to keep up. She earned her fifth shutout of the match, but it didn’t take any momentum from Barty, who notched the sixth and broke the Ukrainian in the seventh. With the chance to serve for the match, Barty dealt with a short battle with Svitolina before taking her two match points and locking down her path to the final that took two hours and six minutes to accomplish. 

With Svitolina out of her way during a pivotal moment of a tournament, the top seed awaited the winner between surging Belorussian Aryna Sabalenka or former world number one Simona Halep on Sunday.