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Reuters

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Reuters

Emerging Belgian player Alison Van Uytvanck couldn?t go past seasoned Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in her opening-round clash at Wimbledon Championships 2021 but did win wholesome applause from the crowd with some stunning shotmaking.

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Not overawed by her opponent?s reputation, the Belgian stormed back into contention by winning the second set after losing the first.

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Alison Van Uytvanck lost to Elina Svitolina in R1

Ultimately, the superior experience and skill-sets of the Ukrainian World No.5 proved decisive in the end as Svitolina eventually prevailed in three sets.

Though coming out on the losing side in the end, Van Uytvanck left the spectators agape on Court 1 with some scarcely believable shots.

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One that stood out was a forehand slice a la Roger Federer that left the crowd and commentators on air in awe and her opponent utterly stupefied.

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The Belgian later shared a clip of that incredible moment on Twitter, saying she picked up the shot after watching Federer play that particular slice with great success.

To a return from the Ukrainian on serve, Van Uytvanck produced a forehand slice with pinpoint accuracy.

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“After watching Roger Federer…”

Knowing it was fruitless, Svitolina did not even bother to make a run for it and opted to save her legs instead.

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Van Uytvanck tagged the clip with a post saying, ?After watching @rogerfederer doing this, I thought I will try that as well.?

Slice is one shot which brings the desired dividend, especially on the grass at Wimbledon.

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While most players would fall back on the backhand slice before approaching the net at All England, Federer often produces the forehand variant to bamboozle his opponents.

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Coming high off the handle, the shot, properly waited on and delivered with precision timing, drops dead on the opponent before he can even hope to run it down.

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There was another rally in the match during which Van Uytvanck produced a stunning backhand slice which dropped in and was swerving before Svitolina managed to run it down and respond with a winner down the line.

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Uytvanck may have lost the match, but she sure produced some enthralling shots and memories on the day.

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Priyabrata Chowdhury

1,101 Articles

Priyabrata Chowdhury is a tennis author for EssentiallySports. He has been a print journalist for a decade, producing news pages for leading national dailies such as the Hindustan Times and The New Indian Express. His passion for sports eventually drove him to tennis writing. From covering live matches to writing features or reports on all that’s happening in the world of tennis, he is mining his interest in the sport to strive for writing excellence. When he is not busy writing about tennis, he likes to read, watch his favorite shows and films on Netflix or other streaming platforms, or catch Roger Federer in action.

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