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Third seed Elina Svitolina made it to the fourth round of the French Open for the first time since 2017. The 5th ranked Ukrainian beat the 27th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia in the round-of-32 of 2020 Roland Garros on Friday.
Svitolina won in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 in an hour and 40 minutes. Svitolina never looked to be in any trouble throughout the match and Alexandrova was left playing catch-up to her higher-ranked opponent for the entire course of the match.
In an attempt to outplay Svitolina, Alexandrova did go for her shots. But while they produced winners – 25 of them – they also brought about almost twice as many unforced errors (49). In comparison, Svitolina’s winner count was just eight with her unforced errors totalling 30.
Despite this, Svitolina finished the match with 87 points to Alexandrova’s 76. Svitolina broke Alexandrova’s serve thrice. While one was a break back in the second game of the second set, the other two came when the Russian was serving to stay in the first set (at 5-4) and then when the Russian was serving to stay in the match (6-5).
The Ukrainian will play either Caroline Garcia or 16th seed Elise Mertens for a place in the quarter-finals. Iga Swiatek equalled her best result in Paris as she made it to her second straight fourth round after 2019. The Pole defeated Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 in 74 minutes to become the first winner of the day.
Seeking a place in the last-eight, Swiatek will play top-seed Simona Halep.
2020 Roland Garros: Simona Halep makes quick work of Amanda Anisimova
Halep avenged her 2019 French Open loss to Amanda Anisimova in a match that lasted merely 54 minutes.
The world no. 2 put up a dominant showing to defeat the 25th-seeded American 6-0, 6-1. The 2018 French Open champion was all wheels against Anisimova who struggled to match her opponent’s pace. Her sluggishness and reactiveness cost her the opening set in just 23 minutes.
Anisimova, who reached the semi-finals of the 2019 French Open, tried to reboot her game in the second set and while Halep was put on the defensive in the opening moments of the set, she adapted to Anisimova’s changed tactics and made adjustments to keep her advantage in the set, and in the match.
Halep had just the seven unforced errors in the match while her opponent had 32. The American had three more winners than Halep – 18 to 15 – but finished the match with almost half as many points as Halep: 34 to Halep’s 60.
Nadia Podoroska, the Argentine qualifier, marched on at 2020 Roland Garros. The 131st ranked Podoroska beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-3, 6-2 in an hour and 39 minutes in the third round. This is the best result so far for the 23-year-old who is playing in the main draw of the tournament for the first time in her career.
She awaits either Barbora Krejcikova or Tsvetana Pironkova for a last-eight spot. Photo Credit: Billie Jean King Cup Twitter