Long tossed about by Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, Ukrainian Elina Svitolina snatched a ticket to the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in the super tie-break on Sunday, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (11/9).
“It’s the second happiest moment of my life after the birth of my daughter,” Svitolina said, eyes misty, after the match.
Perhaps nervous at the start of the match, Svitolina struggled to adjust, sometimes forcing her shots too much to break through the impeccable opposing defense.
She found herself trailing 6-2, 2-0 and Belarus seemed on a royal path for the quarters.
“At 0-2 in the second set, I heard your encouragement and I almost wanted to cry,” the player told the audience.
“I wasn’t playing my best tennis, as I was trying and wanted to win this game so badly. I played point after point, I fought to find a way to win this match,” she said.
Back to the wall, the Ukrainian has finally found the right rhythm and the right length.
Also well helped by Azarenka’s difficulties on her face-off (8 double faults in total against 0), Svitolina equalized at 2-2, before breaking at the best moment, at 5-4 for her, to equalize at a sleeve everywhere.
Semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 2019, Svitolina continued by breaking away at 3-0.
But her opponent, who has not reached the quarters on the London turf since 2015, found the resources to come back and push her into a great tie-break with a level of play that has only increased over the games. .
Again, it took Svitolina trailing 4-2, then 7-4 to really take the initiative in the rally.
She regained her delay and, after a first match point wasted at 9-8, she concluded on the second with an authoritarian ace.
“When I started to play again (after the birth of his daughter, editor’s note), I did not think of chaining two quarter-finals in the Grand Slam and I did not think that I would be as successful on grass”, she said. admitted, after having had to give up the concert of singer Harry Styles on Saturday evening which she was to attend, because she was still in the race.
At the end of the match, Svitolina did not wish to shake hands with Azarenka because of the war in Ukraine. The Belarusian was whistled by the public when leaving court N.1
In the quarterfinals, she will face the world number one Iga Swiatek who also suffered against the Swiss Belinda Bencic 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.
