Elina Svitolina rallies late to down Pavlyuchenkova

Elina Svitolina clenches her fist during a comeback that gave her a three set win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the US Open. 

Elina Svitolina found the energy to keep fighting, coming through to make the third round of the US Open on Thursday. Anastasia Pavlyunchenkova played terrific through the first set, but felt the challenges of her opponent’s rally at Louis Armstrong Stadium, losing 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

The two played for the sixth time, with the tennis vet holding the series lead even after Svitolina clinched her second win in Rome three years ago. On the hard courts, the 32-year-old had more wins against the Ukrainian, giving her a chance to do the same in New York. The 26th seed dominated her opening-round match against Anna Lena Friedsam but knew that her history with Pavlyunchenkova was within reach of changing for the better.

She went after the 32-year-old’s service, but let her grip on a break chance slip out of her hands. When it came time for her to match up, Svitolina ran to a 40-0 run fast and held Pavlyunchenkova to a point. The two continued to hold serve on each other, but at times saw double faults from the players.

Reaching the business end of the set, Svitolina leveled at five-all to keep her efforts alive and take the first. Pavlyunchenkova refused to give it to her, holding in the 11th and taking advantage of her errors from the Ukrainian to reach set point. The 32-year-old produced two more before it was enough to take the set 7-5 in one hour and two minutes. The final game was the only game to go down as a break for Svitolina, who only struggled with the serve in the set.

The two continued their slow pace, playing the first two games on serve through 10 minutes. They held serve through four, but the efforts for the 28-year-old to gain a break were challenging. After leveling the score, Svitolina finally got the edge on Pavlyunchenkova in a comeback to deuce and take the AD point. Despite her battle in the fifth, backing it up didn’t go as planned, with double faults rattling her offense. Pavlyunchenkova got the break to love to level at three-all, continuing a long march to the end.

A third consecutive break of serve went the way of Svitolina, who had the lead back for the second time. It set off a boost of energy that worked into her service game and hold, taking a 5-3 stance. Pavlyunchenkova answered on serve to sit a game down, keeping the match within reach. It was the Ukrainian getting the job done, firing two aces on serve in the tenth. Reaching set point, the 28-year-old had three chances and blew every one of them.

Despite all the free points lost, Pavlyunchenkova gave her another with a long return to send them the distance after 52 minutes. The first serve was nearly flawless for the 26th seed, but her second serve was most dismal. The 32-year-old produced plenty of breakpoints to maintain her status as a player to go for it all.

Pavlyunchenkova served to open the deciding set but faced a determined Svitolina, who turned the tables to break her. She fed off another energizing success and held firm to go into the third and score the double break. With her biggest lead of the match, the 26th seed didn’t get a clean service through in the fourth but denied Pavlyunchenkova any breakpoints on deuce. The 32-year-old achieved a victory in the set, but it was an uphill climb with the Ukrainian two games away.

Pavlyunchenkova played a good strategy, finishing the sixth with great positioning at the net to answer every shot and break. She denied a break back and sat a game from leveling the 26th seed, carrying a winning streak. At 30-all in the eighth, Svitolina set up two monster winners to hold serve and cap off her opponent, who served to stay alive. The 26th seed got ambitious on returns, watching too many fall wide of the court. Pavlyunchenkova took the win on a long ball, leaving her opponent to finish it herself.

Two loose points came back as errors by Pavlyunchenkova on the next two. She laid down an ace but couldn’t get the match point down. On deuce, she produced two match points, setting up the third, which did the trick on an ace, ending a 2 hour and 47 minute tussle.

“It was a tough match today,” Svitolina said during her post-match interview. “I didn’t play so well today, and it was up and down.” When asked about the change in her game, the Ukrainian explained the strategy of her coach's tactics. “I try to be a little more aggressive and I’m not young anymore, so I have to hit a bit stronger to run less, but I’m trusting my physical condition and really happy I’m back playing.”

She’ll await the winner between Jessica Pegula and Patricia Tig on Saturday. “I played Jess a couple of times,” she said. “Played in Washington, had an extremely good match there, so If she wins it is gonna be amazing. If it’s gonna be Tig, it’s gonna be another challenge in the third round so I’m gonna try to prepare and recover from today and I’m happy that I could win this match today.”