Elina Svitolina stages impressive comeback to advance to the third round at US Open 2023

Elina Svitolina Triumphs in US Open Second Round

In a thrilling match at the US Open, Elina Svitolina showcased her resilience as she fought back to defeat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and advance to the third round of the tournament.

The Ukrainian player, seeded 26th, faced a tough battle in the second set but managed to regain control by taking a commanding 4-0 lead in the final set. Despite Pavlyuchenkova’s valiant effort to stage a comeback with three consecutive game wins, Svitolina held her nerve and clinched victory with a scoreline of 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

“It was an incredibly challenging match,” acknowledged Svitolina. “I didn’t perform at my best consistently throughout. My performance had its ups and downs.”

Svitolina revealed that during one of the breaks between sets, she sought updates from the chair umpire about her husband Gael Monfils’ ongoing match against Andrey Rublev in the men’s singles competition. This helped motivate her and shift her mindset when facing difficulties on court.

“I wanted some inspiration from him to change my perspective because I wasn’t delivering my best performance,” explained Svitolina. She recently made headlines by reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon just last month after returning to professional tennis following childbirth in October.

In other matches at the US Open, defending champion Marketa Vondrousova eased through to the next round with a comfortable victory over Italian Martina Trevisan. The ninth-seeded Czech player has now secured her ninth consecutive win in Grand Slam tournaments.

American Madison Keys, the 2017 runner-up, also dominated her second-round match by defeating Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in just 54 minutes with a score of 6-1, 6-2.