In the round of 16 of the French Open, a match was held that promised maximum competition. World No. 7 Elina Svitolina and ranking No. 11 Belinda Bencic gave the spectators a tense battle, which ended with a convincing victory for the Ukrainian with a score of 4:6, 6:4, 6:0. Thanks to this success, Elina advanced to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament, where she will face her compatriot Marta Kostyuk.
History of the rivalry and current form
The situation before the match promised a spectacular show. For Elina Svitolina, the current season is going exceptionally well: she is demonstrating high stability, has won two titles, including the prestigious 1000 series tournament in Rome, and has firmly established herself in the top ten of the WTA rankings.
Belinda Bencic approached the match on the verge of the top 10. The 2020 Olympic champion is having a decent season, although without any trophies. On the Parisian courts, the Swiss player started without problems, defeating three opponents without dropping a set. Reaching the fourth round of Roland Garros has already become a repetition of her best career result at this major.
Match progression: from equal struggle to rout
The first set was an even struggle until the score was 2:2. Then Svitolina began to make mistakes and lost two games in a row on her serve, trailing 2:5. Elina managed to save one break, but Bencic held her advantage and took the set to victory with a score of 6:3.
The second set started under the dictate of the Ukrainian — 4:1. It seemed that Svitolina would easily take the set, but the experienced Swiss player was not going to give up. Bencic took three games in a row and reduced the deficit to a minimum (5:4). However, the final word remained with Svitolina, who put a period on the opponent's serve, winning the set 6:4.
In the third set, there was no suspense. The total dominance of the Ukrainian led to a total rout of the opponent with a score of 6:0.
Ukrainian derby in Paris
This victory became Svitolina's sixth quarterfinal appearance at the tournament in Paris. In total, this is already Elina's 15th quarterfinal at Grand Slam tournaments. She will try to reach the semifinals for the fifth time, however, at Roland Garros she has never succeeded in doing so.
For the second time in history, two representatives of Ukraine have reached the quarterfinals of a major. The first time this happened at the Australian Open-2024, when Daria Yastremska and Marta Kostyuk played in the quarterfinals.
Svitolina and Kostyuk have previously met twice on hard courts: Elina won at the Australian Open-2018, and Marta won in Toronto-2024. The upcoming match on clay is expected to be no less interesting.
The Ukrainian derby in Paris will take place on Tuesday, June 2. The match will start no earlier than 12:00 Kyiv time.