Elina Svitolina survived a tough first-round encounter at Roland-Garros, overcoming Anna Bondar in three sets. The Ukrainian seventh seed avoided a third straight defeat to the Hungarian player, winning 3-6 6-1 7-6[10-3]. The match lasted two hours and 26 minutes on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
Svitolina’s Grit Sees Her Through
Svitolina described the match as one of her “top three” grittiest Grand Slam escapes. Bondar had previously defeated Svitolina in Madrid and at the US Open last year. Svitolina had won their previous Roland-Garros and Wimbledon encounters last year.
Out of 49 Grand Slam first-round attempts, with 42 successful, Svitolina rated this victory among the toughest she had earned. “Definitely top three. I don’t remember that kind of tough [match], not only because I played against her, lost against her, but also, I think it was pretty hot and difficult conditions, difficult opponent,” Svitolina said. “Yeah, set down, I had to really bring that confidence from Rome to step up my game and keep fighting. In the end, I played some good tennis, second, third set, and I was really locked in.”
Turning the Tide in the Deciding Set
After splitting the first two sets, both players reached for ice towels at every opportunity. At 1-1 in the third set, they engaged in a marathon 14-minute game before Svitolina held serve. Though not a turning point, Svitolina’s raised fist sent a message to Bondar, who has only reached the second round at a major five times. Bondar, the 28-year-old opponent, would have to work hard to secure just her second top-10 win over the former world No.3.
Svitolina was broken to love while serving for the match at 5-4. However, she drew on her mental resilience to dominate the match tiebreak. This secured her a second-round meeting with Spanish qualifier Kaitlin Quevedo.
Looking Ahead
Svitolina joked she wasn’t even sure she’d make it through her first assignment. She added that it was too early to consider her a trophy contender. “I’m in good form, but I think there are still players who are more favourites than me – I think at least five players are still bigger, they have bigger chances to win this tournament, so I’m not thinking too much about this at all …
“When you are playing well, when you are at the top of, like, the ranking, everybody is playing free against you. I think the example of Anna or other players, they have nothing to lose, so they bring their best game. When you get into this position, that’s a dangerous position to be in. You need to be really even more kind of focused on the work that you have to do on the court to beat those players, because they are playing the matches of their lives.”
Svitolina acknowledged the added challenge of competing a day after the latest missile strikes.