No.5 seed Svitolina eases her way into the third round in Paris, while American sensation Stephens overcomes No.9 seed Pliskova in straight sets.
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Elina Svitolina had little difficulty in booking her place in the third round of Roland Garros, while former finalist Sloane Stephens knocked out Karolina Pliskova on Thursday. Svitolina’s 6-0, 6-4 victory in one hour and 14 minutes had similarities to her first-round win. In round one, the No.5 seed had cruised through the first set against wildcard Oceane Babel, but found herself in a difficult spot, before overturning a 2-5 deficit in the second set to win the match. On Thursday, she whitewashed the American in the opening set, but yet again had to claw her way back from a 1-4 deficit to win the set and the match.
“In the end, what I’m really happy is the way that I was down in both matches in the second set and found a way,” said Svitolina. “I found a good level and didn’t give up on the second set. That was a really good point for me, and I was really playing composed in both matches. It was two different players, but I was really happy that I could win in two sets both matches.”
Earlier, the Ukrainian was cruising after winning the first set without losing a game. But Li roared back in the second and found her rhythm to gain a 4-1 lead. Just like the opening round, Svitolina needed to stage a comeback and she duly acknowledged. She took advantage of two Li double faults to get the break back. There was no stopping the 26-year-old after that as she cruised her way through to clinch it on her second match point. She will next face Strasbourg champion Barbora Krejcikova, who beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 6-3.
Stephens, who was a runner-up at Roland Garros in 2018, reached the third round with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over No.9 seed Pliskova. The absorbing first set saw the American setting the pace, while the Czech had to play catch-up throughout. Stephens initially led 3-1, before Pliskova pegged her back to 3-3. She rebuilt her lead to go up 5-3 before the Czech fought back to level it again.
However, the former US Open champion broke again to win the set 7-5. The second set was one-way traffic as the American lost just one game en route to winning the match. Stephens will next play another Czech, Karolina Muchova. The No.18 seed defeated qualifier Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round in Paris.
