World number five Elina Svitolina has a battle on her hands as she takes on the 21st-ranked Elena Rybakina in the second round of the 2021 Eastbourne International on Wednesday, June 21. Get the live streaming options of this Elina Svitolina v Elena Rybakina match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Elina Svitolina v Elena Rybakina Head to Head
Their only previous meeting came on the clay courts of Strasbourg last year and Svitolina had to fight tooth and nail to win the match and in turn the title.
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Svitolina Makes Slow Start on Grass
After losing her opening round match at the German Open last week – which was her first on grass in 2021 – Svitolina looked to be in bit of a strife in her opener here as well.
Paula Badosa’s form this season has been on the rise and while she isn’t a proven customer on grass, the Spaniard looked to have taken the early advantage by winning the first set against Svitolina. And even that was from being 1-4 down.
Svitolina fought back to find her rhythm in the second, breaking her opponent in the second and fourth game and when she grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third set as well, the Ukrainian player had won eight of the previous nine games.
The fight wasn’t over with Badosa taking advantage of her opponent’s inability to find her serve at clutch points, and broke back on three occasions after having lost her own serve.
In the tie-breaker, however, Svitolina ran away with seven successive points to finish off a two hour, 20 minute marathon. Her second round match can be expected to be as difficult.
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Rybakina Showing Signs of Return to Her Best
For a player who has seen a huge amount of success over the past two seasons, where she reached seven WTA tournament finals, Rybakina’s form this year has been anything but exemplary.
In fact it was only after she made the quarterfinal at French Open did she get to a positive win-loss record having gone to Roland-Garros with seven wins and eight defeats.
Rybakina then made it to the second round in Berlin last week in what was her first grass court tournament main draw since her semifinal at the 2019 Hertogenbosch Open. There, she had needed to come back from a set down to usurp Shelby Rogers but lost to Garbine Muguruza in the second.
And she has now begun this competition with a difficult opening round win over Britain’s Harriet Dart. After what looked like a cakewalk of a first set, came back from a break on two separate occasions before losing the tie-breaker and then needed a decisive break in the ninth game of the final set to pocket the match.
Can Rybakina continue to improve as she looks to feature in her first ever Wimbledon main draw next week?
Svitolina v Rybakina Prediction and Tip
Svitolina is a favourite but only just at 4/5 but while we think Rybakina could give her opponent a bit of a fight, Svitolina should still edge her out.
Tip: Svitolina to win in three sets: 3/1 (Click Here to Bet with bet365)
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The 2021 Eastbourne International will be played from June 21-26. You can watch & bet on these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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