Elina Svitolina comes through in three sets at the BNL Internazionali D'Italia

Fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina stretched out for a return against Amanda Anisimova during a second-round match at the BNL Internazionali D'Italia

It was another tough start for Elina Svitolina at the BNL Internazionali D’Italia, but her efforts paid off late Wednesday afternoon.  The two-time winner of the tournament overcame an early deficit to Amanda Anisimova, who made her fight through the next two sets to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Court Two at the Foro Italico in Rome. 

The two met up for the third time and the first this season. They split hardcourt wins with one another making the clay surface an interesting outlook from both sides. The American has 11 sets under her belt that included her win two days ago with Qiang Wang. The two-time champion of the tournament hasn’t been at her best recently, suffering a huge loss at Madrid when she exited in the opening round there. With so much comfort returning to her at the Foro Italico, the Ukrainian hoped to deliver a better outcome and gain an edge over Anisimova. 

The fifth seed managed to break early to open the match with the American, gaining a breakpoint chance and sealing it. Svitolina consolidated on serve to make it 2-0 but quickly saw it fade away. Anisimova rallied back with a serve to love in the third and broke back with an extraordinary return against Svitolina’s serve. By the time six games elapsed, the American had a grip on the set’s pace winning her fourth game in a row. With the double break in hand, Anisimova went on to serve to love in the seventh, gaining a quick chance to take the set. 

Svitolina appeared to be out of position as she failed to defend her side of the game and watched the American take her a set down in 26 minutes. Anisimova fired at 69 percent from the first serve scoring 12 of 15 on points won. Svitolina got points returned on just 3 of 15 across the court, and 8 of 22 on serve. With those stats making her stand out like a sore thumb, the fifth seed knew that she had to improve in the second. 

The American caused the Ukrainian to fume when she failed to go beyond the point won in the first game. Svitolina turned things around in the second when she managed to hold serve for the first time since the second game of the match. A break of Anisimova helped her build some momentum after three games. Despite being broken to love in the fourth, Svitolina broke back in the fifth and consolidated her serve in the sixth. 

She added a break for good measure that made it 5-2 in her favor but suffered another break back from Anisimova. Svitolina wouldn’t let another game slip away from her, pulling off the key break that gave her the second set after 32 minutes. The fifth seed was on a mission as she continued her march into the deciding set which saw her take the first three games. The American got on the board, but she wouldn’t break the pace of the fifth seed, who closed in on the victory. 

The 26-year-old kept it together on serve where she managed to record two serves to love in a row. With the 5-2 stand over Anisimova, she went for the match against the American’s service only to come up short. Svitolina suffered her fourth double fault in the match that opened the door for Anisimova, who consolidated with a break back. Just when it looked as if there was a tie to be made, the American committed a fifth double fault that soon led Svitolina to a match point in the tenth. She completed a successful comeback when Anisimova returned a shot long that moved the Ukrainian to scream out in frustration that she got out of danger and into the third round after 1 hour and 38 minutes.