Australian Open: Svitolina routs Kuzmova in straight sets
Elina Svitolina made a serious statement to the rest of the main draw of her intentions to be a massive force at the Australian Open. The sixth seed dominated Viktoria Kuzmova in straight sets on Rod Laver Arena 6-4, 6-1 Thursday afternoon. It was her 13th win at the Grand Slam that she hoped to go far in.
The Ukrainian won their only meeting last year in straight sets against the Slovakian. With another second-round match, the world number 48 wanted nothing more to avenge Svitolina and drop her out of the tournament.
That wouldn’t be easy as the 24-year-old played a comfortable first round taking down Golubic in straight sets. With her eyeing a serious journey through the tournament, Kuzmova would need to get her serve running quickly in order to be a consistent challenge.
Svitolina started with an outstanding service game but soon faced a real challenge from Kuzmova. The Slovakian held the sixth seed back to secure a building point in the set.
Svitolina nailed down a serve to love but it didn’t put a dent in the 20-year old’s gameplay. Though she let up a little on deuce, Kuzmova held to stay even with the Ukrainian. She had the sixth seed matched through the next four games that made getting a 5-4 lead so important.
It became the longest of the match, spanning seven minutes and four breaks, with the sixth seed saving three break points to hold. The pressure was on Kuzmova to continue with the rally and with Svitolina aggressively trying to end the set, it went to the Ukrainian who fired back the returns to end it in 41 minutes.
While she had only nine winners to Kuzmova’s 15, the success of only having four unforced errors was better than the 20-year-old who couldn’t hold them back enough.
After she held serve to open the second, Svitolina came out with a response that became a major foothold to controlling the match. When she gained the 2-1 lead in the set, the sixth seed pushed herself to the fullest potential and dominated the 20-year-old. She sprinted out to a 4-1 hold giving Kuzmova nothing to answer back with the same amount of strength.
It came slamming down on the youngster who watched Svitolina bring the heat and set up a great finish. She served the seventh putting every effort to make it tough for the Slovakian reaching two match points. An ace brought her day to a close in one hour and seven minutes.
“I was trying to put one extra ball over the net, trying to move quick and be light on my feet so I think it was the key today,” she said during her post-match interview. “I played really confident all the match so I’m pleased with the performance today.”
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