Dellacqua overpowers Svitolina in straight sets
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Casey Dellacqua made a last ditch effort in the opening set to comfortably to defeat Elina Svitolina at Wimbledon Thursday. The 30 year old Australian won in straight sets 7-6(3), 6-3 to advance to the third round of the summer major.
The American has a 1-0 series lead against the Ukrainian that dates back to last year’s US Open. In their second meeting in a major, Dellacqua has a chance to pick up another win from her time spent on grass courts this season. Svitolina had a challenge early from Japan’s Misaki Doi but rallied back to defeat her outright. As she looks to best her run at Roland Garros, Svitolina will try and make her serve work best over the Aussie.
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She took a 2-0 over Dellacqua as her forehand and quick movements were moving in perfect unison to break down the skill of the Aussie. Dellacqua was serving below 20 percent after three games as the lead was growing in favor of the Ukrainian. With another chance to recover, Dellacqua held strong on the serve ending Svitolina’s winning streak with a game point. Things started to warm up in the Australian’s confidence as her response on return looked much stronger.
She picked up another win against Svitolina where the two began trading games with one another. Though Svitolina held the lead on set, Dellacqua was showing plenty of fight in her shots trying to get on level terms. She pulled off a good win in the eighth game where a love service shut down Svitolina on the verge of changing the tide of control in the match.
Svitolina kept ahead of the Aussie winning on a double game point that set her in play for the set. She was stopped dead in her tracks as Dellacqua pushed the set to the brink getting one more chance to get out front. Svitolina maintained the edge of Dellacqua but it didn’t stop her from making a last break to force a tiebreaker. Coming back from a two point deficit, Dellacqua made every point count on deuce to pressure Svitolina to break in the tiebreak.
The Aussie earned her first lead in the set holding the Ukrainian at 4-2. She held her off completely getting out to a 6-3 where she put the set away winning 7-3. Despite the low service percentage from the Australian, her total points in the game was enough to have her in position to make the match swing in her favor.
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Dellacqua was gaining leverage as she grew a two game winning streak to support her work over Svitolina. The Ukrainian tried to work through the second game forcing deuce against the Aussie and got it done after two breaks. The set was tight with Dellacqua leading Svitolina by just a small margin. The errors from Dellacqua helped tie the set at three as Svitolina was struggling to keep up at times.
It became too much for the 21 year old as she found herself one game from elimination as Dellacqua took control. Svitolina got into a chance to win a fourth game and pressure Dellacqua. The Aussie forced her into deuce where after two breaks; the match came to an end with a big victory over the 17th seed.
Svitolina had a rough outing in the second having trouble winning points on her serve as well as the return. While she tries to reflect on the serious mistakes of her game, Dellacqua will put her game all in going in against the dangerous power play of Agnieszka Radwanska Saturday. Radwanska looking to get back into the ranks had won at least two sets in a sweep against opponents.