Tennis

ITF Chiasso: Elina Svitolina misses out on match point, loses thriller to No. 217

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Elina Svitolina lost a thriller at the ITF Chiasso as the former world No 3 missed out on a match point before losing to 217th-ranked Alexandra Ignatik.

In the Chiasso round-of-16, Romania’s Ignatik recovered from a set down and saved a match point en route to stunning Svitolina 1-6 6-2 7-5.

Svitolina started the match in a stunning way, claiming three consecutive breaks to open a dominant 5-0 lead.

Serving for the first set and a bagel in the sixth game, Svitolina a bit surprisingly failed to close out the set.

However, it didn’t impact much Svitolina, who broke Ignatik again in the seventh game – when the Romanian was serving to stay in the first set.

After losing the first set, Ignatik clinched back-to-back breaks in the third and fifth games of the second set to open a 4-1 lead.

Svitolina managed to get one break back in the sixth game but the Ukrainian again lost her serve in the seventh game as Ignatik led 5-2 after the first seven games of the second set.

In the eighth game, Ignatik served out for the second set.

Svitolina, Ignatik played a thriller third set 

After winning the second set, Ignatik also broke Svitolina in the first game of the third set.

Through the first four games of the third set, Ignatik had a 3-1 lead.

Then, Svitolina earned back-to-back breaks in the sixth and eighth games to overturn the deficit and take a 5-3 lead.

Just when it seemed Svitolina would clinch a three-set win, the Ukrainian failed to serve out for the match in the ninth game after missing out on a match point. 

After Ignatik broke back Svitolina in the ninth game, the Romanian broke the Ukrainian again in the 11th game for a 6-5 lead.

Serving for the match in the 12th game, Ignatik saved two break points before converting her third match point to complete a three-set win.

Ignatik finished the match by winning the last four games of the match.

Meanwhile, Svitolina clinched her first win since becoming a mom in Chiasso.

On Wednesday, Svitolina defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-4 6-2 for her first win since returning to action.

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