By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, June 22, 2017
Scalding a forehand off the sideline, Camilia Giorgi provoked a puff of white paste to rise from the grass—a visual sign of a striking uprising.
The Italian qualifier’s flat drives dislodged the lines and displaced Elina Svitolina.
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The heavy hitting Giorgi reeled off six of the final seven games surprising the second-seeded Svitolina, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to roll into the Birmingham quarterfinals.
Giorgi more than doubled the fifth-ranked Ukrainian’s winner output, pounding 34 winners to 16 for Svitolina.
It was the 25-year-old Italian’s third career victory over a Top 5-ranked opponent following wins over world No. 3 Karolina Pliskova in Prague last month and fifth-ranked Maria Sharapova at the 2014 Indian Wells.
“Today was a good match,” Giorgi said afterward. “I was playing well, a very good level yes.”
It was the fifth consecutive victory for the world No. 102, who scored three straight-sets wins in qualifying.
Giorgi, who suffered her fourth consecutive Grand Slam first-round loss at Roland Garros last month, has the stinging strokes, fast feet and impeccable timing that are all assets on grass. She showed it slashing her way through the opening set then rallying from 1-5 down in the second before Svitolina closed out the set.
Svitolina, who squandered a match point bowing in the Roland Garros quarterfinals to Simona Halep, had been bothered by a leg injury earlier in the season and said leg pain inhibited her movement today.
“It's one of the biggest things in my game, and that's why, you know, when I have a small pain, it's really damaging on my game because I need to start off quickly, and today, as you can see, I was so slow,” Svitolina said. “I was not there at the ball all the time. I was late or too early. I was all over the court.”
The two-time Roland Garros quarterfinalist carried a WTA-best 36-7 record this season, including four tournament titles. Svitolina defended diligently for much of the match, but could not do enough to deter the harder hitter in the decider.
Controlling the center of the court and dictating play throughout the decider, Giorgi converted seven of 13 break points wrapping up a two hour, two-minute triumph.
Svitolina, who owns just five Tour-level grass-court wins over the last three years, said she knew the explosive Giorgi would be dangerous on grass.
“I was not surprised. I was expecting this because she always played great on grass,” Svitolina said. “And as I said, I was surprised that I managed to come back into the game and win second set and actually played some good points, even though I was not there 100 percent. She always plays great on grass, and yeah, it's quite normal.”
Giorgi will play Australia's Ashleigh Barty for a spot in the Birmingham final four.