Their two previous meetings, both on hardcourts, went the distance and Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, retained a 2-0 advantage over American Shelby Rogers heading into their third-round match on the grandstand. 

Svitolina will turn 23 on September 12th, just three days after the women’s final and undeniably, is one of the favorites having already won five titles this season – the most on the WTA tour.

She has already surpassed her best finish at the Open having reached the third round the last two years. Rogers, who will turn twenty-five next month and is currently ranked #68, was making her second appearance in the third round, the last, two years prior.

Despite the winning score of 6-4, 7-5, it was an extremely fast paced match with the first set taking a mere 37 minutes to complete. It was apparent from the start that Svitolina was going to bide her time allowing Rogers to dictate most rallies and in so doing, produce more unforced errors.

Statistics often accurately mirror the tone, patterns, and trajectory of a match but they also can mislead. Svitolina’s straight sets victory is a combination of the two. The score line, in and of itself, does not reveal the number of breaks of serve and in turn, the dominance and/or fragility of the winner.

Both held serve through the fourth game when Rogers faced double break point. She fought back to deuce but after throwing in a double fault and hitting long, dropped serve.

The Ukrainian found it difficult to consolidate the break due in large part to Rogers aggressive play and well-struck volleys. Not known for her first or second serve, Svitolina double faulted and after losing an extended baseline rally, gave back the break.

Rogers, serving at 4-5, missed several backhands and overcooked a forehand to drop serve and the set 6-4.

While Svitolina played well in the first set, she played more defense than offense, preferring to let Rogers implode with unforced errors. She often used the drop shot to draw her opponent into the net but Rogers was up to the task winning 9 of 11 points.

Svitolina served first in the second set and immediately came under fire going down triple break point and losing serve at love. Rogers, serving up 2-1, was unable to harness her power, hitting several wild forehands to drop serve.

The American was broken in her next service game due in large part to Svitolina’s aggressive ball striking and an exceptional running forehand passing shot off a low slice.  

With well-placed serves and weak returns, Rogers held for 3-5. Svitolina served for the match at 5-3 and had three match points but was denied; Rogers was relentless off the ground and it paid dividends. She held for 5-5 and Svitolina for 6-5.

Rogers would have to hold to force a tie-breaker but immediately found herself facing a fourth match point when she struck another errant forehand. She thought she had once again escaped when it appeared that Svitolina’s forehand found the net but it dribbled over and so too was the match.

In this match, the stats truly tell the tale of the tape; Rogers was more aggressive off the ground with almost double the number of winners and errors and while she is known to have a better serve than Svitolina, served just 2 aces and won only 45% of second serve points.

The number four seed will have to play more assertively next round if she hopes to reach her first quarterfinal at the US Open. Up next, either Madison Keys the #15 seed or Elena Vesnina, the #17 seed.