Ostapenko edges Svitolina in straight sets at Miami Open

Elina Svitolina had issues that she battled only to fall at the Miami Open Wednesday. It was once again the aggressive style of Jelena Ostapenko who battled the Ukrainian into consecutive tiebreakers before winning it 7-6(3) 7-6(4) on Stadium Court at Crandon Park Tennis Center. It was the first time she reached the semifinals in what was becoming a remnant factor of her French Open and Wimbledon journeys.

The last time the two met saw the Latvian take down Svitolina in straight sets on the grass courts of Wimbledon. It was the Ukrainian’s highest finish in the grand slam as well as the then 20-year-old who won the French Open prior to SW19. Both were at a point of high progression in the season’s second premier mandatory. With a semifinal spot on the line, the world number four and five ranked stars would fight to the brink to move on.

Ostapenko proved her worth quickly breaking Svitolina to love in the opening game showing the same signs of her first meeting between the two. The fourth seed answered back with a break of her own holding the Latvian to a single point. The pace went three games before Ostapenko made a push in the fourth landing a cross court winner that nailed the line giving her the first hold of the set. Svitolina followed in the fifth with a hold before calling for the physio to come out.

While she was being tended to, David Taylor came out to speak with the Latvian telling her of her strong handling of the situation while giving her tips to check on the small issues. The match resumed with the 21-year-old very much firing the ball at a quicker pace than her opponent. Svitolina showed signs of fatigue in her return but battled to break in the sixth leveling the score. The Ukrainian tried getting into the lead but Ostapenko denied her ending another game with a cross court winner remaining in the lead.

The pace continued to switch as Ostapenko once again held in the eighth with Svitolina still trailing by a game. It led the fourth seed to take a conference with coach Andrew Bettles who told her to risk going after the cross-court winners and beat it back to her. The sixth seed made some mistakes on serve for the set letting Svitolina back into contention for the second time in a first set. She did well to hold in the 11^th taking her first lead of the match and a two-game winning streak. Ostapenko faced losing full control of the set which led to Taylor coming back out during the changeover to tell her commit fully to hitting the ball.

She did so catching Svitolina off on the final point that led them to a critical tiebreak. Svitolina began firing away first but saw the first point come on a net front lob by the 21-year-old. She had two points to her name but faltered twice leveling the score. Svitolina landed an ace on serve but it wasn’t enough to continue holding the sixth seed back. She took the next four points shutting down the set in 50 minutes. Despite having 22 unforced errors, the winners came off huge for her to stay fighting through the entirety of the set and up in the match.

When the second began, it was Svitolina who opened with the break trying to dig in and dictate successfully herself. She had a 2-0 lead before Ostapenko got into the set with a hold in the third. Svitolina contained her two-game cushion on the Latvian but the threat was high. Ostapenko came out blanking the fourth seed in the fifth game showing her strength on offense. A flurry of winners got the 21-year-old back to level terms with the world number four serving to overtake. Svitolina denied her that chance taking a 4-3 lead before talking with her coach about her stomach pain. Bettles told her that despite her issue that she had this big opportunity in front of her to fight like she did on Monday and battle.

It was a hard road for her but after completing her break in the seventh, Ostapenko rallied to consecutive victories sitting a game away from the semifinal. Svitolina served to stay alive in the tenth doing so with a hold of serve once more. The break came for the world number four in the 11^th for a second time hoping that what happened in the first wouldn’t occur again. In the final break, Ostapenko took one final talk with Taylor telling her to play the right way and commit to everything that came to her. It led to another tiebreak as the wind became a factor to allow the Latvian another tiebreak.

She began service but saw Svitolina land a winner on the short rally. It turned into a conduction of consecutive points painting a winner on the line before beating the Ukrainian. She brought back the well set up winners that opened the gap in scoring. It was 4-1 for Ostapenko who was on a roll before Svitolina answered back cutting the gap in half. Two points went to the Latvian who had four match points to use. Two faltered on errors from her end before a third landed wide. Nerves were clearly in the mind of the 21-year-old but she did it on the fourth attempt ending 1 hour and 47 minutes of tense moments with a final cross court winner for her 41^st.

“It was a very tough match,” she said to ESPN’s Renae Stubbs after the match. “I’m just trying to improve and play well on the court, fight for every point and be more consistent and I think I’m getting there in my form.” She will face the winner between Venus Williams and Danielle Collins on Thursday in a big step to another WTA title. “It’s probably gonna be a good match probably,” she said about her next potential opponent. “I’ve played Venus before and she’s a great player and great champion. The last time we played was in Singapore which was one of the longest matches three and a half hours and I lost unfortunately but it was a great match. Hopefully tomorrow can be a great match.”

Azarenka continues to be dominant in straight set win over Pliskova

Victoria Azarenka continued her march back at the Miami Open with a well profound performance in the quarterfinals Tuesday night. The three time champion defeated Karolina Pliskova in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 on Stadium court at Crandon Park Tennis Center. It was her first top ten win since Miami in 2016 with the momentum going her way once again.

This was a fourth meeting for the two superstars with Azarenka leading the series since Indian Wells in 2016. They went a second straight match to the distance where the Belorussian came out victorious in a third set hold before going on to win the first of the sunshine double that year. The Czech hasn’t had a strong start to 2018 but sees a second consecutive semifinal within reach if she can put a stop to Azarenka’s hard fight back into the sport. While the Belorussian had an easy Monday against Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets the same went for Pliskova dispatching Zarina Diyas allowing three game wins. She wouldn’t get the same chance against her opponent but would find a good fight on her hands.

The set began with a break to Azarenka who returned the ball well against Pliskova’s serve creating some backspin on the ball that led to errors in the rallies. The ground strokes of the Belorussian came off strong in the second capturing the first service hold and a two-game lead. Pliskova got right on point to notch her first service hold making her offensive statement clear to Azarenka in the third that it would harder to keep her down for long.

With the service holds in succession, the gap remained for Azarenka who made good of it in the fourth. She gave every effort to break the Czech but the wind didn’t help to get a second under her belt. After containing the sixth, the former number one took down Pliskova with an aggressive style of play that awarded her a second break of the set. With a three-game margin for herself, but a slip early in the eighth with Pliskova fighting to stay alive saw the set continue with a double fault.

She redeemed her mistakes attacking Pliskova with the return but found her two set point attempts blown by errors. It led to deuce where the Czech set up difficult returns firing in the corner for Azarenka. After three breaks, she found a way of redirecting the shots of Pliskova but saw the tables turned once again blowing a third set point. After the fifth deuce the Czech earned a shot at securing the game and did so taking nine minutes to do it.

With a second attempt at ending the same to her name, Azarenka completely dropped it handing her opponent every point sending them further on in the set. Pliskova dictated the 11^th until the Belorussian battled back to force deuce. When it looked as if the serve of the Czech could get out of the game with a win, she handed the game to the three-time champion double faulting on the AD point. It was the fourth of the set as the second serve struggled to come together.

Azarenka began to find her strengths return serving for the set a third time where she had some moments of struggle but avoided another force of deuce to get it done on her 5^th set point attempt. Things finished in 57 minutes with neither one holding a strong serve together. Azarenka had a second serve that came up big during critical moments against Pliskova’s serve showing her more as the match went on.

The 28-year-old came out guns blazing picking up her first break to love of the Czech. She followed suit holding Azarenka in the second keeping things leveled in the second. It was clearly tough for either one of them to hold serve as the Belorussian showed a full show of aggression beating down Pliskova in the third. Through five, the breaks went on until the very next game when things got serious for the 2016 champion of the tournament. With a big push from her return game on Pliskova, the 28-year-old got the first hold of the set taking a 4-2 lead in the process.

Azarenka watched her opponent follow along with the pace and keep within a game on the scoreboard unready to let the set get away from her. The Belorussian had something to say about it in the eighth holding together for her first shot at the match. The former number one started with an attack of a cross court shot that fooled Pliskova. A double fault from the server made it 30-0 for Azarenka before coming back with a drop shot near the net.

She forced deuce but the pressure was all on her ending the match after a break with a shot wide of the net bringing a close after 1 hour and 36 minutes. “It wasn’t easy,” Azarenka said to Andrew Krasny after the match. “Karolina is a very good player and I felt like I had a very good lead and I let it go a little bit. She really stepped it up so I had to fight back and it wasn’t easy with the wind conditions. Both of us are pretty hard hitters so I had to adjust to it and play with a little bit with more touch and play a little bit safer. I moved pretty well which helped me a lot today.”

She’ll try to keep a spot in the finals against Sloane Stephens who she didn’t have a good outing against back at Indian Wells. “I need play better for sure than I did last time,” she said. “I have to keep my unforced errors down. Last time I made quite a few of those but she’s such a terrific player. She’s been playing amazing, especially since the U.S. Open. I think I need to play my best tennis but also want to focus on myself and keep enjoying it.”

Svitolina pulls together beating Gavrilova at Miami Open

Elina Svitolina used her experience to get herself out a jam at the Miami Open. After losing the opening set, the world number four had her focus recalibrated and ran away in the last two beating down Daria Gavrilova 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 on Court One at Crandon Park Tennis Center. The win gave the Ukrainian further ground to build on to advance to the fourth round.

The two last met at Indian Wells where the Ukrainian took the series lead with a straight sets win last season. With only the world number three left ahead of her in the tournament, Svitolina had her chances increased to pick up a number of points and achieve the best ranking of her career to date. The object would be to handle her former doubles partner and keep the winning streak against Gavrilova that stands at three. The Australian gained a pass of the opening round and proved her worth taking down Andrea Petkovic. With both hoping to get beyond the halfway point, it would be up to her to get out front of the third seed and create havoc for the 23 year old.

She started by breaking Svitolina before watching a break opportunity came the Ukrainian’s way. She followed it up with her first service hold on Gavrilova getting the controlled offense into motion. Gavrilova got her first as well making it a challenge for Svitolina as she ran around the court to return on the Australian’s second serve. Through four games, the players remained on serve with Svitolina on point setting the pace for them. It came to an end for the world number four as Gavrilova broke her. It led Andrew Bettles to come out seeing that Svitolina was slightly discouraged after that loss. Bettles tried to keep her composed asking her to fight on every point and get more width on her shots.

While she came out slow with the strategy, it led the players to deuce with Svitolina destined to strike back with a break in the eighth game. The boost of confidence gave her energy to attack Gavrilova but saw her second serve being targeted by the 24-year-old. It was a strategy that worked well to gain the lead and pressure the Ukrainian to continue faltering. It led to her carrying all the successes in the next two games to complete the set in 45 minutes.

Svitolina knew what had to be done in the next set and used her focus to make it her set to win. She controlled all aspects of her game to blast away at Gavrilova gaining a 3-0 lead in the process. Her dominance produced a double break making it very likely to take the match to a third set. Svitolina added a fifth straight taking Gavrilova out with her first love service of the match.

The Ukrainian hunted for the bagel but Gavrilova’s force of deuce made it difficult for a moment. After the break, it was a simple lob to end the rally that gave the fourth seed the shutout of the second set that took her 26 minutes to achieve. Svitolina committed one error in the set while Gavrilova had over two dozen with a low first serve percentage.

While she continued to struggle in the third set, the world number four had found her niche by extending her winning streak. Though the first two games were hard, the Ukrainian’s objective proved the strongest of her tournament gaining a nine game winning streak. Svitolina’s dominance took a toll on Gavrilova who let her coach know it during the break. Despite her low self-esteem her coach tried to keep her spirits up telling her not to lose hope. She etched out a win for herself in the fourth but Svitolina was all over her serve in the fifth hitting the ball deep where Gavrilova had little chance of fighting back in the rally. She took a 4-1 lead battling the Aussie on each point coming out by a hair. With two left, Bettles came out to keep Svitolina together with the goal within reach.

She added another break in the sixth winning 11 of the last dozen games with the match in her hands serving the seventh. Defense was all the Australian had to stay competitive and with Svitolina adding some free points it helped temporarily. The Ukrainian got tactical moving toward the net looking for every point to reach match point. She got it on a sliced ace that accounted for her only of the entire match dispatching Gavrilova in two hours and six minutes.

With the comeback that continued her best run in the tournament, the 23-year-old had her eyes set on the fourth round facing Ashleigh Barty on Tuesday.