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Sara Sorribes Tormo added to her tally of upsets on home soil in the second round of the Madrid Open as she defeated No.16 seed Elina Svitolina on Thursday.
Tormo came from a double breakdown in the second set to defeat No.16 seed Svitolina 6-3, 7-5 in a match that lasted for two hours and 12 minutes. The two-time Madrid finalist registered a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Tatjana Maria in a match that lasted for one hour and 21 minutes. Sorribes Tormo's duel was exactly what he expected: an attritional battle in which the World No.55 gave nothing away. In the first set, 45 minutes had gone before the second changeover of the match, which saw Svitolina lead 3-2. Sixty-eight rallies exceeded ten strokes, with 20 reaching twenty strokes. Fourteen games had at least one break point, including eight of nine in the first set. Despite these stats, Sorribes Tormo made only seven unforced mistakes off the ground. When Svitolina found the correct blend of patience and power, she played some fantastic tennis. The three-time major semifinalist built points superbly and finished them off in flair, with delicate drop drops and fizzing forehands, in the early half of the first. In the second, she built a 4-1 lead via swarming the net whenever possible. The home favourite not only had amazing end-range control, consistently landing her defensive shots on the baseline, but also dangerous passing shots and superb touch at the net. From 3-2 down in the opening set, Sorribes Tormo broke loose from the long series of deuce games, scoring 16 of the next 21 points to win. In the second set, she overcame a similar disadvantage before converting her third match point with a backhand pass.(ANI)
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