Svitolina, Collins maintain winning ways in Rome

With some key winning streaks in their histories to rely on, Elina Svitolina and Danielle Collins booked spots in Monday's Round of 16 at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia after identical victorious score lines on Sunday.

For No.16 seed Svitolina, she can look back on a 10-match winning streak in Rome during 2017 and 2018, when she was crowned the Internazionali BNL d'Italia champion in back-to-back years.

Svitolina is attempting to go deep once again in the Italian capital, and she moved one step further on Sunday evening with a 6-3, 6-3 third-round victory over No.23 seed Anna Kalinskaya.

"I really like to play here, especially night sessions, it’s really special," Svitolina said afterwards. "So many great memories. Each time that I step on the center court here, it really brings back all the memories, all the tough matches that I’ve played here."

In her first career meeting with Kalinskaya, Svitolina rekindled some of her most sparkling Rome form. Svitolina fired 22 winners, four more than Kalinskaya, and the Ukrainian No.1 broke serve four times in the match.

The win was a good boost for Svitolina, who fell in the first round here last year. That was only her third tour-level event back after maternity leave.

"To be fair, I played not great last time here," Svitolina said. "But still, you know, it was nice to play such a big tournament here, to get that feel of a big tournament."

Svitolina immediately got her sea legs back after that -- in her next two tournaments, she won the Strasbourg title and reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals.

Svitolina will now test her Rome rebound against No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the Round of 16. Sabalenka was the player who ousted Svitolina at Roland Garros last year, but in Rome, Svitolina knows she has finished as the last woman standing on multiple occasions.

"I think it’s important to stick to my game," Svitolina said. "I know that, you know, I can play well here. I try to draw confidence from this."

As for No.13 seed Collins, her pivotal winning streak is much nearer in the rearview mirror. Collins won 15 straight matches earlier this spring, collecting titles at WTA 1000 Miami and WTA 500 Charleston along the way.

Collins had her run snapped by Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid, but the 30-year-old American is back in the mix for another WTA 1000 title this fortnight in Rome. Collins topped No.22 seed Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday night to make the Round of 16.

Another type of winning streak was also maintained by Collins on Sunday -- she is now 10-0 in sets against France's Garcia.

"I feel like I match up well against Caro," Collins said afterwards. "We always have great matches, but something about the matchup works out very well for me. I played really aggressive from the beginning and was able to be consistent the entire way through."

Collins has now won 17 of her last 18 matches, in the midst of her previously announced final season on tour. "I’m just happy that in my last year, I’m going out and playing my best tennis," Collins said. "It’s really exciting.

"It’s just a lot of hard work, and I think all of these areas of my game have improved little by little, and it’s made the world of a difference."

Collins will now take on Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu for a spot in the quarterfinals. Collins defeated Begu in their only prior meeting, on the hard courts of Miami in 2018, but former Top 25 player Begu excels on clay and was a Rome semifinalist in 2016.