The World No.4, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, reached the semifinals of the Rome Open on May 18 with a sixth straight win over former World No.1 Angelique Kerber from Germany.
The match ended with a score 6-4, 6-4 and lasted an hour and 26 minutes.
The game began with both players confidently holding their serves. But then, with the score at 2-3 (40-40), Svitolina dropped her serve and gave Kerber a chance to take the lead. However, Svitolina was able to recover, and won four games in a row, and in the end won the set 6-4.
Both plays began the second set badly, alternately losing their serves. Svitolina emerged the stronger, and went on to win the second set 6-4.
Svitolina hit five aces and had one double fault, while Kerber had the same number of aces, but eight double faults. Svitolina played at a good pace, and showed off an impressive backhand.
Svitolina continues her title defense on May 19, facing in the semifinal either Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit or Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.
