Elina Svitolina of Ukraine recorded her most straightforward victory so far at the 2020 French Open by ousting Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4 7-5 to reach the fourth round.
The third-seeded Svitolina was dictating her first career meeting with seed No.27 Alexandrova, but it was far from an easy match. The only time Svitolina was lagging behind was at the very start of the second set when she dropped serve, but she broke back immediately and stayed strong.
Players were firmly holding onto their serves throughout the match, but as the sets got to their final stage, Alexandrova’s fightback diminished. The Russian was broken at love in the last game of the first set and then produced a series of unforced errors in the end of the second set to let Svitolina win.
In the previous rounds, Svitolina edged past Russian world No.89 Varvara Gracheva in a match that featured 11 breaks of serve and then overcame a second-set bagel against Mexican qualifier Renata Zarazua. Today’s encounter with Alexandrova lasted approximately the same as Svitolina’s earlier matches at the 2020 French Open, but it was more straightforward.
