After a one-year break due to war in her country and maternity, she is back: on the eve of Roland-Garros, the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, ex-world No.3, won her Saturday in Strasbourg 17th trophy against Russian Anna Blinkova, beaten 6-2, 6-3.
Taken by the throat for almost the entire match, Blinkova, 66th in the WTA, failed to doubt an aggressive and determined Svitolina, on the lookout for the slightest opening to enter the court and shorten the exchange.
After a great start, the 28-year-old Ukrainian, who fell to 508th in the world but who benefits from a protected ranking, won the first round in just over half an hour with an ace on a second ball, taking Blinkova’s serve three times.
At 24, the Muscovite was competing on Alsatian clay for the second tournament of his career.
Same start in the second set, where Svitolina quickly led 3-0, then 4-1 but Blinkova, stubborn, hung on, saving three match points at 5-3, before finally losing on a kick foul right after 1h32 of match.
The two players did not shake hands at the end of the meeting, simply giving each other a sign from the racket.
Elina Svitolina resumed competition in early April in Charleston. She had not played since the Miami tournament in March 2022.
The native of Odessa, who finished seven seasons in a row in the World Top 20, had then put her career on hold, saying she was “mentally exhausted” and distressed by the war that Russia has been waging on her country since February 2022.
Wife of the French tennis player Gaël Monfils, Elina Svitolina became last October the mother of a little Skaï, her first child.
At Roland-Garros, where she has never passed the quarter-finals, she will face in the first round the Italian Martina Trevisan, 29 years old and 26th in the world, semi-finalist last year at Porte d’Auteuil.