Elina Svitolina serves up a shot to Sara Errani during thier second round match at the BNL Internazionali D'Italia.
Elina Svitolina sped quickly in the first but slowed down in the second set to win at the BNL Internazionali D’Italia on Friday night. A fast first-set win was slowed down by Sara Errani, who gave it her best but lost in straight sets 6-0, 6-3 on Pietrangeli Court at the Foro Italico.
The two-time champ drew the tough Italian to take on in her home country. Having never beaten her before left the mom with much to battle for in her tenth appearance. Errani got plenty of action in the opening round, taking down Amanda Anisimova in three sets. The tennis vet wanted to rally big in front of her fans and send Svitolina packing for the third time, but Svitolina was more than hungry for back-to-back wins, having not had a pair since Dubai.
The Ukrainian scored a break to love to open the match against Errani, who didn’t impress early on her serve. Svitolina saw a challenge on serve in the second from the Italian but managed to avoid any breaks from being produced. She captured the double break and coasted through the next three games, achieving the triple break of Errani. She played three set points before taking it on the final one, completing 29 minutes of tennis in the set. Though she outscored the 37-year-old 27-13, there was still plenty of tennis left to play.
Errani made that clear in the first three games, putting the brakes on Svitolina, who struggled to counter in the first. She slipped up in the second, handing the break to Errani, who suffered a break back to love in the third. The fourth was their most competitive of the match, going to deuce, where they spanned four breaks. The Ukrainian took the victory and converted a break in the fifth. She took the next two games, scoring the double break, and tried serving things out in the eighth.
Errani turned the tables and gave herself a chance to break Svitolina to love. The 16th seed denied her that opportunity, but she still had two breakpoints to save. Svitolina forced deuce but went to four breaks until she got a second match point on a wide return. She got it on a line drive that brought her day to a successful end after 1 hour and 18 minutes.
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