WTA Roland Garros: Elina Svitolina downs Venus Williams for promising start
World no. 9 and two-time Roland Garros quarter-finalist Elina Svitolina has made a winning return after a tough couple of months, beating Venus Williams 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and 13 minutes. Struggling with a knee injury, Elina lost the last four matches since Indian Wells, working on her game and doing her best to get ready for the second Grand Slam of the season. Taming her strokes, Svitolina had 16 winners and 15 unforced errors, leaving Venus on 15 winners but also more than 30 unforced errors that made the difference. Both players had their chances on the return, with Williams taking half of the points behind Svitolina's initial shot, enough for four breaks from seven opportunities.
That wasn't enough for the more effective result, though, giving away 65% of the points in her games and suffering seven breaks from 11 chances offered to Elina. After two commanding holds on both sides, they traded five straight games, three for Elina who moved 4-3 up with a break at love in game seven following a forehand down the line winner. The Ukrainian forced an error from Venus to confirm the advantage and secured the opener with another break in game nine when Williams sprayed a backhand slice error, taking a 6-3 lead after 34 minutes.
Venus bounced back at the beginning of the second set with two consecutive breaks, forging a 3-1 advantage before Svitolina started to climb back, leveling the score at 3-3 with a deep return and gaining the lead following a double fault from Venus in game eight. The Ukrainian sealed the deal with a service winner a few minutes later, rattling off the last five games of the match and claiming an important win after a troubled couple of months.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2VQJfZ3
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