Elina Svitolina overpowers Garbine Muguruza in straight sets at BNL Internazionali D'Italia

Elina Svitolina celebrates a win during her match with Garbine Mugruza in the third round of the BNL Internazionali D'Italia Thursday

Elina Svitolina fired on all cylinders when it counted at the BNL Internazionali D’Italia Thursday. Her game tamed the likes of Garbine Muguruza, who couldn’t find a way to counter the fifth seed and went down 6-4, 6-2 on Center Court at the Foro Italico. 

The two were back to battle for the 12^th time in their careers and the second to occur in the eternal city. They last met in 2020, where their only meeting resulted in Muguruza dominating the Ukrainian. The Spaniard already had two matches under her belt that resulted in a quick finish of Patricia Marie Tig before dealing with adversity against Bernarda Pera. 

Though she had to work hard to come from a set down, the former world number one rallied all her good qualities to set up the match with Svitolina. The current world number six struggled to handle things with Amanda Anisimova but got through it in three sets like Muguruza. Even with their long history, it would be a fight to the bitter end for one of them to move into the last eight. 

Svitolina opened the scoring with a serve to love on the 12^th seed and followed it up with a break of her opponent for a 2-0 lead. Muguruza struck back in the third forcing the Ukrainian to fight out of a hole and come up short of the AD point. The fifth seed broke back for the double break of the Spaniard taking a 3-1 position with the balls back in her hands. Muguruza battled with a strong return game that pressed the fifth to deuce. She played well during the rally where a great court position set her up for smash a line drive winner for the break back. 

Svitolina notched the triple break, denying Muguruza a single point in the sixth, but it was not the end of her opponent. The Spaniard broke the Ukrainian back to love and consolidated the eighth to level the score. The fifth seed moved into position with a hold in the ninth before giving it her all to break Muguruza. Gaining a lead early, she reached two set points to put the first away in 47 minutes. 

Svitolina opened the third determined to get the job done against Muguruza earning a great hold in the first. The Spaniard followed suit and made a statement with a break in tow. The Ukrainian managed to break back to a level that became the biggest change of momentum in the set. The fifth seed consolidated the fourth with a good hold in the fifth game, holding Muguruza back just long enough. 

She pulled off the double break and consolidated that with a service hold in the seventh that resulted in a shutout of the former world number one. It was the game that broke the Spaniard into pieces as she couldn’t pull her serve together, allowing Svitolina to dictate the end of her tournament that lasted 1 hour and 16 minutes. It was a surprising loss for the Spaniard, who went from being a dominant force one day to not having her game in place when the time called for it. 

While she departs Rome to prepare for more improvements, the Ukrainian will take on French Open champion Iga Swiatek during Friday’s quarterfinal.