Elina Svitolina rolls to victory in three sets at GNP Seguros

Elina Svitolina waves to the crowd after her round of 16 match at the Abierto GNP Seguros in Monterrey Mexico. 

Elina Svitolina had a challenging night on the court but came through with her best at the Abierto GNP Seguros Thursday night. Winning the last six games in a row, the Ukrainian took down Viktoriya Tomova in three sets 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-2 on center court at the Sonora Club in Monterrey, Mexico.

Wednesday’s victory was an emotional one for Svitolina, who defeated Anastasia Potapova of Russia in straight sets. While neither had beef with one another, the reality that Ukraine was being attacked was an upsetting event for the top seed to handle. She found a way to focus and won her opening match superbly to face Tomova for the second time. They last met at the Billy Jean King Cup where the Ukrainian won after a tiebreak. The Bulgarian fought her way through qualifications, sitting on a three-match winning streak in the hopes she could show the number one seed difficulty. 

She chose to face the service of Svitolina, who dominated with a shutout in the first. She blanked Tomova for the break to love for a 2-0 lead. The Bulgarian worked out the kinks on the return side of the game, forcing deuce on the Ukrainian before finding her victory in an AD point break. Svitolina broke back but had to press Tomova away from the game point in the fourth. The Bulgarian regained her experience against Svitolina to draw errors from the number one seed and break back once more.

She managed to level the score, which didn’t sit well on the competitive side of Svitolina. The top seed refused to let another one of her service games be broke and in the seventh, held with all her might to get in charge. Svitolina added a break for good measure when she forced deuce on Tomova’s serve. After two breaks, she pushed her back behind the baseline to score the win and sit 5-3 to serve for the set. 

The Bulgarian pressed the issue in the ninth where she dug in to fight every point with the Ukrainian. A big point scored her the break to extend her life in the set, hoping that she had what it took to press Svitolina into another potential tiebreak. She denied the Ukrainian the opportunity to take the set on her serve, forcing her to find another way. Tomova was all over the ball in the 11^th, answering with terrific shots to hold off Svitolina. The top seed answered with a rush to three set points in the 12^th, only to see Tomova save one of them. 

She saved two more to force deuce but a mistake gave Svitolina the AD point. The number one seed, clinched the victory to send the two into their second career tiebreak. Svitolina won the first four points before Tomova got on the board with a pair. A big winner gave the Ukrainian a mini-break for 5-2 before a point was achieved by the Bulgarian. Svitolina scored another mini-break for a set point which was sealed on a cross-court slice ending one hour and six minutes. 

Both combined for 55 unforced errors with Tomova having a better outcome of her first serve percentage. Despite having three double faults, the Bulgarian gave Svitolina a fight to be proud of but knew more had to be done to really be in the competition. They played the first four games, holding serve on one another, with Tomova leading the Ukrainian. After holding in the fifth, the Bulgarian got Svitolina right where she wanted her, setting in frustrations across the court. It led to a key break in the sixth that put her two games in front. 

Backing up gave her first cracks at taking the second set and forcing the decider, with Svitolina on the ropes. Despite a shutout in the eighth, Tomova came into the ninth, edging the Ukrainian to win the second in 37 minutes to force them to the distance. Unforced errors were a major problem for the top seed, who committed 19 while Tomova improved her offense. 

She rolled it into the third taking the first two games swiftly. Svitolina then answered with a push that produced not only a momentum change but full control of how every point was played by the Ukrainian. She won the next four straight, inching herself closer to taking the match. Tomova tried to stop her in the seventh when she forced deuce, but the Ukrainian was on a path to finish the night off her way. She forced an error from the Bulgarian to sit a game down with Tomova serving to stay alive. 

The Bulgarian gave it all she had in the eighth, fighting Svitolina to deuce where she gave herself chances for the AD point. The top seed shut her opponent’s efforts down and produced one for match point. It was an 11 shot rally that saw her gain a hard-earned victory when Tomova returned a shot wide ending 2 hours and 22 minutes. 

“It was an extremely tough match today,” said Svitolina “I think Viktoriya played a good match and I had to really fight back in the third set to bring back my best game and try to come back into the match and in the end managed to win six games in a row.”