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| Elina Svitolina performed well in her second-round match against Ann Li at the French Open Thursday |
Elina Svitolina had a terrific day on court to make the third round of the French Open Thursday. The Ukrainian dominated early against Ann Li, who improved late but faced an aggressive attack that resulted in a 6-0, 6-4 win on Court Suzanne Lenglen at Roland Garros.
The two met for the first time with the American facing a big-time opponent in her second-round meeting. The Ukrainian didn’t have an easy start to the tournament when her French counterpart ran hot in the second set but came up short. With some vulnerabilities in her game, the former junior finalist at Wimbledon would give it her best in her debut year on the red clay of Roland Garros and try to pull off an upset of the world number six.
Li opened service but was quickly under attack by the Ukrainian who jumped out to breakpoint position before taking the opening game. She backed up things on serve, but not without a challenge from the 20-year-old, who forced deuce, gained a breakpoint only to fail and lose out. Svitolina made her pay for it in the third when she double-faulted, allowing the fifth seed to rush to a 3-0 run.
The 26-year-old conducted her best game of the set allowing Li just one point on her way to a commanding 4-0 lead. Li wanted to get a hold of serve in play but had another challenge when it was 30-40. The American forced deuce but ran into Svitolina’s push for the breakpoint. After saving three, she tried to get it done but was coming up short on four attempts. Svitolina brought her fourth breakpoint chance to lock it down and serve for the match. The fifth seed had no trouble going for the shutout, putting an ace down in the sixth game that led to three match points and a winner to close the first in 28 minutes.
The Ukrainian served at 74 percent and won 33 of the 51 points played with just six unforced errors to Li’s 12. What looked to be a continuation of action from Svitolina ended up being a turn of the tables benefitting the American. Li made good of her service to open the second set, holding the 26-year-old back. She went on to break her in the second, holding her to one point. It was soon 3-0 for the American as she had Svitolina on the ropes with another strong service game.
The fifth seed couldn’t let the deficit get any bigger, leading her to defend from her end and secure the service game. Li responded in the fifth to regain her three-game lead, but it only gave Svitolina determination to close the gap. She held the sixth game and went for the break in the seventh where a double fault from Li opened the door for Svitolina to close in. On serve to tie things up, Li gave the Ukrainian a fight that allowed her to force deuce and bring up a breakpoint. The fifth seed denied her twice before setting up the winner for an AD point before delivering a drop shot at the net to sit four-all.
With Li losing all her ground, she began to feel the pressure and fell apart on serve in the ninth. It set up Svitolina with a sense of comfort to close out the match on her terms in the following game. She started it off with a smashed winning crosscourt and a line drive to force an error out of Li. A second serve produced an error from Li for three match points for Svitolina. The fifth seed ended her day with her second attempt being a crosscourt winner for the win that took 1 hour and 14 minutes.
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