Elena Rybakina stuns Elina Svitolina in straight sets

Elena Rybakina swung big during her second-round match with Elina Svitolina at the Viking International in Eastbourne, England

Elina Svitolina went down to another youthful opponent at the Viking International Wednesday afternoon. The second seed couldn’t keep up with the winners that Elena Rybakina put together resulting in a 6-4, 7-6(3) win for the Kazak on Centre Court at Devonshire Park in Eastbourne. It was the first win she posted against the world number five, showing her offense best in the competition. 

The two met last year in Strasbourg where Svitolina scored not only a win over the Kazak but a new title. The Ukrainian struggled on the grass in her opening round that was against Paula Badosa, who gave it her all and nearly one. With it being a less than favorable surface, the world number five would look to handle the Kazak or play another three-setter, Rybakina took down British player Harriet Dart, who fought back with a second-set tiebreak but was silenced in the decider. The 22-year-old hoped she had enough energy to do the same if Svitolina allowed her the time. 

Svitolina opened the match with a good hold of serve against Rybakina, allowing her one point in the first. The Kazak had some challenges with her offense with errors, but forced deuce and won on the second AD point. She and the Ukrainian remained on their serves throughout most of the match until a change occurred after Rybakina shut Svitolina down in the eighth. 

The world number 21 overcame a short deficit in the ninth and fought to win the next two points for the break. A serve to love was Rybakina’s reward for overpowering the second seed and finish a set ahead after 37 minutes. Winners were a major factor in not only holding together her serves well against Svitolina but that they dwindled her opponent’s serve that failed to keep up with winners in the set. 

As the second got underway, Svitolina fought Rybakina, who wanted the early break and threatened with a breakpoint but came up short on deuce. The same went for the Ukrainian, who gained two breakpoints but couldn’t close it out. Rybakina made her pay for it and caught a break in the third game that she easily backed up. Svitolina found a way to hold and keep the Kazak close at hand. 

The 22-year-old remained firm on serve in the sixth, but gaining another break was not happening for her benefit. After a hard service game from the second seed, she battled Rybakina in the eighth creating three breakpoints. Every one of them was saved by Rybakina, who continued saving more and not finding the moment to finish the game. Svitolina had the fifth one after playing 13 points to level the score at four apiece.

Rybakina found a way to break back in the ninth, but with every hope that her service to shut down Svitolina, the Ukrainian pressured to break back. The momentum on points won helped her to take the 11^th comfortably, but she still needed one to force a decider. The 22-year-old knew how important her service game was in the 12^th and managed to hold Svitolina to a point before scoring the win on a long ball beyond the baseline. 

It set up a tiebreak which Rybakina wasn’t well played in, but a minibreak and a forced error from Svitolina gave her a jump on the score. A ball into the net made it three in a row for the Kazak who won the last seven straight played. A ball landing wide ended her streak but another error returned Rybakina to a three-point advantage. The Kazak scored an ace before the changeover and landed a winner for the match point. Rybakina had herself placed in a great position and despite dropping two points to the second seed, she got put away for the day on a cross-court that couldn’t be returned well beating the second seed in 1 hour and 38 minutes.