STUTTGART, April 23, 2017

Elina Svitolina recorded a fourth consecutive win over World No. 1 Angelique Kerber in the first reverse singles rubber of the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Play-offs between Germany and the Ukraine in Stuttgart on Sunday.

The pair each struck 26 winners but 15 points seperated the two players in the end. The 23-year-old from Odessa was simply more aggressive on Kerber’s second serve, winning 70 per cent of the points. Svitolina capitalized on five of her nine break point chances to prevail after one hour and 20 minutes and her team has chiselled out a foothold in the tie, trailing 2-1.

“I am getting to feel comfortable on the court, which takes some time but it was a good match for me,” Svitolina was happy. “The opening set was extremely tight. We were both pretty aggressive and the encounter was of high quality. I am really happy with the way I was playing.”

Angelique Kerber

Kerber had to accept defeat.

“Elina did not make a lot of mistakes today and played really well. She made the points in the decisive stages of the matches, which was the key in the end.”

Svitolina also gained a 6-5 lead over Kerber in their head-to-head records. It was her third win over the German this season, following her victories in Brisbane and Dubai.

“In all of the last matches we played, Elina showed her best tennis,” Kerber told and added: “Same happened today. She moved well and I wasn’t able to enforce my own game.” 

In the following fourth singles rubber, Julia Görges, who upset Svitolina in three sets on the opening day, will take on Lesia Tsurenko. The 28-year-old German lost the only two previous encounters between the two.