Elina Svitolina rallies to win her place in the final at Strasbourg

Elina Svitolina in action during the semifinal against Aryna Sabalenka at the Internationaux de Strasbourg on Friday. 

Elina Svitolina played in a very competitive semifinal to come out with the win at the Internationaux de Strasbourg on Friday. The double faults from Aryna Sabalenka beat down her offense and surge back in the sets but ultimately fell 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 on Patrice Dominguez Court at the Strasbourg Tennis Club. 

The two last met in Wuhan two years ago, where the Belorussian struck big in the third set to win their second-round match there. With a historical leg up on the world number five and a spot in the final up for grabs, the 22-year-old eyed getting another one. Svitolina shook off the rust in her run at Strasbourg and took the last remnants off in her straight-set victory against Jil Teichmann Thursday. As her game got well into gear, the Ukrainian had her offense prepared for action. 

She opened service to begin the match but fell behind in the game. She caught up to force deuce, holding the first break played. Sabalenka took control of service just as the rain began to start in a drizzle. Svitolina forced deuce then gained the advantage just as the rain fell harder bringing a suspension to play that lasted 45 minutes. Sabalenka resumed service but double-faulted, giving up the early break. Svitolina fell behind in yet another game but recovering was not something the Belorussian wanted to happen. It took her two break points to get it locked down hoping to consolidate going forward. 

Despite going to deuce once again, Sabalenka held serve to level at two-all. The Ukrainian was under threat in the fifth with the 22-year-old delivering tough crosscourt shots holding her way back to the lead. A break to love for the second seed gave her a 4-2 lead and later dealing with a fightback from Sabalenka only to deny her a move up in the score. With the fourth seed running three games behind, she served to extend the set but double-faulted to start the eighth. 

She recorded another for her fourth of the set that brought up deuce. Two breaks were played when Sabalenka went for a drop shot attempt that went bad as Svitolina returned it nicely ending the set in 38 minutes. Svitolina had just five winners to Sabalenka’s 12 but minimizing the errors was easy for the second seed. She committed five to the Belorussian’s 13. The 22-year-old took advantage of the set break leaving the court to recover. 

The two opened the second set with serves to love, followed by another one from Svitolina to make it three. With such a quick start to the set, it was up to Sabalenka to keep up with her opponent. She held to love once more, making it 16 consecutive service points combined. It was put to rest when Sabalenka scored on a drop shot return in the fifth. She let out a scream of frustration after committing a mistake on the second point. An error gave Svitolina leverage that led to her holding in the fifth. 

Sabalenka held once more to make it six between the players, right before she caught a chance in the seventh that led to a break of Svitolina. The attempt to hold looked good for Sabalenka as she had a lead on the Ukrainian. However, the surge from the second seed got her to deuce where the fight for the AD point was on. Sabalenka brought out her tools of crosscourt winners and drop shots that broke Svitolina to hold serve and consolidate. 

With a 5-3 lead, Svitolina served to stay in the set and held giving the Belorussian one more chance before she would be forced to work harder for it. Despite recording her fifth double fault and the first in the set, the 22-year-old got the win to force her way into a third after 38 minutes. The fourth seed still had more winners and unforced errors but the eight that she made were lower than the first, and having only one double fault, the improvement paid off. 

Svitolina knew she had a match on her hands and made sure to hold serve to begin the deciding set. She broke for a 2-0 and made it three in a row with a serve to love. The 22-year-old got on the board with a serve to love in the fourth before breaking back to sit a game down after five. A hold to love squared her up with Svitolina, who watched her lead dissolve before returning to serve. 

She made sure that despite the attacks from Sabalenka, that she held her game and take the lead. That was exactly what the Ukrainian made happen as they inched closer to one of them going into the final. Three errors from Sabalenka on serve gave the second seed a break for 5-3 and the opportunity to serve for the match. The Belorussian chose to use another racket and scored a well-played defense to break back. 

Serving to move the decider into further frames, Sabalenka made her opponent run left and right before striking the point winners. It led her to three-game points, but a double fault ended the shutout. A second one brought Svitolina to 30-40 with a deuce close at hand. A forehand error gave Svitolina life to fight for a match point which came on a long ball from Sabalenka. A ninth double fault brought a heartbreaking end for the Belorussian who gave the victory to Svitolina that ended the day in 1 hour and 53 minutes. 

“I was expecting a really tough one,” Svitolina said during her on-court interview. “I knew that Aryna would come up and play really good tennis. It was a little bit of plus and minus for me and for her. I think she regrouped well after the first set and it was a really good battle. “ 

This was the first win for Svitolina against a Top 20 player this season with one step before playing for her chance at a title. She’ll go into Saturday’s final facing Elena Rybakina in their first meeting. “I saw a little bit of the way she has played but it will be an exciting final,” she said.