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Elina Svitolina won her way into the third round in a match that had her trailing Wednesday. The Ukrainian was a game from defeat at the Wimbledon Championships until a leg cramp for Margarita Gasparyan killed her moment to shine on Court Three at the All England Tennis Club. Her retirement left the match at 7-5, 5-6 with the eighth seed moving into round three.
The two met back in Birmingham last month where the Russian challenged Svitolina to go the distance in their match and come out victorious. It was the only grass court match that the Ukrainian played but her win two days ago in the opening round over rival Daria Gavrilova was a good start to quickly look for vengeance.
Gasparyan also won in straight sets over Anna Friedsam on Monday to be back facing Svitolina. While she looked to somehow pull off a second win, the 24-year-old eyed the third round for the second time in her career.
The fight ensued quickly with the Russian firing well with the right forehand that gave her a terrific finish to her service game. Svitolina managed to match Gasparyan but the pace was already put into high gear with the third becoming a fight for control. Though Gasparyan maintained her serve in the game, the momentum slightly leaned her way after five with Svitolina being tested.
The Ukrainian let her serve get away from her with Gasparyan rallying on the returns to earn the break and consolidate it with a hold in the seventh. The Russian looked for the double break to end the first but the eighth seed refused to go let another game get out of her control. With some focus, the Ukrainian held on deuce to try and press the Russian to falter.
She did so in the ninth that brought her to a 4-5 score doing well to avoid giving Gasparyan a chance on deuce. With the break in hand, the Ukrainian held her end in the tenth showing more energy that gave her a near clean victory to set them even after ten. Gasparyan saw the force she had earlier needed to increase and with the ball in hand to lead, held with a lucky net shot that dropped into Svitolina’s end.
In her second attempt to play for the set, Gasparyan went all out with some help from Svitolina who hit one into the net setting up set point. The unseeded star delivered a line drive that put the set to rest after 51 minutes. Though she served at 65 percent the second serve dominated that included 23 winners that rocked Svitolina to her core. She committed only nine unforced errors but the small margin of victory came down to a clear result for the Russian.
Having a leg up was at a point an advantage for Gasparyan who held serve despite the fight from Svitolina each time. A push to stop her came in the fourth when she broke the Ukrainian by getting ahead on the score late. Svitolina broke back showing her eagerness for control but trailed on in the set. Gasparyan stayed ahead after seven with a serve to love but failed to secure a break during a very challenging game.
Svitolina dug in when the Russian forced deuce and fought for the AD point three times to Gasparyan’s two. On the sixth deuce, the eighth seed achieved victory that leveled her back with hope that she could finish the set with the Russian behind her. Gasparyan had other plans and locked down the serve giving the Ukrainian a single point before setting up a potential finish to the match.
Svitolina was on the hot seat during service in the tenth where her opening crosscourt rally ended with a return into the net. She recovered with a chance to win the game but a backhand winner from the Russian force deuce. After two breaks, the game went to Svitolina on back to back unforced errors from Gasparyan to make it five-all.
A sudden moment occurred in the 11th when Gasparyan went down with a cramp in her left leg to the point of falling onto the grass in immense pain. Both the umpire and Svitolina came to check on her before the trainer came out to examine the problem.
As the doctor came out, Gasparyan got to her feet intent on playing with the match so close within her grasp. Svitolina went on to take the game away from the Russian who showed signs of real struggle after the incident.
On serve for the second set, Svitolina watched the Russian get a point but soon saw that it was too much for her to keep playing ending the match in heartbreak for Gasparyan. With what was the end of the road for Svitolina suddenly put her on notice to recover the mess she had on court and prepare for Friday’s pivotal match against Maria Sakkari.
