Elina gave a serious fight to the second racket of the world, but failed to reach the quarterfinals
The first racket of Ukraine Elina Svitolinain the 1/8 finals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome, Italy, she was defeated by the second racket of the world, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who was allowed to compete only in a neutral status.
The extremely intense match lasted 2 hours 22 minutes and ended in the defeat of the Ukrainian in the decisive tiebreak – 6:4, 1:6, 6:7(7).
The 29-year-old native of Odessa was very close to winning over the eminent tennis player with a Belarusian passport, but did not win in the third set converted three match points.
This was the fourth head-to-head meeting between Svitolina and Sabalenka. The Ukrainian has one victory and three defeats.
Review of the match Svitolina – Sabalenka
Note that in the 1/16 finals Svitolina defeated the “neutral” Russian Anna Kalinskaya.
Elina is a two-time winner of the tournament in Rome. They won these competitions in 2017 and 2018.
Svitolina is the only Ukrainian who reached the 1/8 finals of the current tournament in the Italian capital. Previously, Dayana Yastremskaya, Marta Kostyuk, Lesya Tsurenko, Angelina Kalinina and Yulia Starodubtseva, who did not pass the qualifications, completed their performances here.
The tournament in Rome became the last competition before the second Grandslam in 2024 – Roland Garros, in the main whichfive Ukrainian tennis players hit the net.
