Elina Svitolina made it a tough day for her opponent and get into the quarterfinals at the French Open Sunday. A straight-sets dictation against Caroline Garcia who managed a couple service games ended in a 6-1, 6-3 result on Philippe Chatrier Court at Roland Garros. It became the third quarterfinal advance for the Ukrainian, in what was her best performance of the tournament to date.
This marked the fifth meeting between the two and the second straight matchup on clay. Garcia dug in against the Ukrainian back in Stuttgart two years ago, beating Svitolina in three sets. Their journey to the round of 16 had been opposite as Svitolina got the slightly easier path while Garcia had a few big opponents to deal with. The one that cost her the most trouble was Elise Mertens who had her beat 6-1 in the opening set but lost the next two. With one full match under her belt, and three of four played that way with the third seed she was okay playing another.
Svitolina took three minutes to score the first break of the match, showing plenty of energy to take on the Frenchwoman. Garcia had her signature slow start that gave Svitolina the easy hold in the second. She fell behind on serve in the third but fought to come back. It was an error into the net that marked her seventh of the set and a double break for the Ukrainian. Of the last 16 points, Svitolina won 12 of them showing a one-way path for the third seed.
She served for a 4-0 run but ran behind quickly against Garcia. Forcing deuce was her way back, leading two into a fight for the AD point. After three breaks, and two blown chances to get the hold, Garcia went on to make her third breakpoint the charm to end the shutout. Svitolina answered with a break back in the fifth and put together a serve to love gaining a 5-1 footing. The third seed dominated Garcia in the seventh, reaching three set points. She lost one of them on an error but closed out the French star in 26 minutes. The Ukrainian dominated in the set, outscoring Garcia 27-13 that was assisted by the French star’s 18 unforced errors.
Svitolina opened the second with a fast start of her service hoping to keep the pace high against Garcia. On her serve in the second, Garcia struggled to keep up but instead handed Svitolina her ninth break point of the match. Though she saved it with a good lob to force deuce, she failed to get an AD point chance losing a fifth service game. A need to get into the set was essential for Garcia who dug deep to find some energy and play a solid return game that produced a break back of Svitolina.
Her attempt to consolidate started out foul with three break points going to the third seed on errors. The Ukrainian scored the sixth break of the match opening the gap on Garcia who couldn’t limit the problems. Svitolina let up a little in the fifth, bringing Garcia to deuce but an ace helped her reach the AD point before scoring a second serve winner to move up 4-1. Garcia etched out an important hold that cut the lead in half for Svitolina, who sat two-game from the match.
She moved to one after easily getting through the sixth with a pair of winners and unforced errors from the French hopeful. In her efforts to save the match, Garcia gave up one point before holding serve for a third win. The third seed was back to serve in the ninth, serving up to Garcia for the match. She erred twice from the backhand but Garcia erred as well. At 30-all, the third seed scored on a long ball from the Frenchwoman, earning match point. Garcia notched her 34th unforced error to end a heartbreaker in 63 minutes.
"It was not easy for both of us," Svitolina said to Marion Bartoli after the match. "I think it was really important for us to get into the consideration that it was really windy and try to close out the game as quick as possible and whoever adjusted the quickest and I was happy that it was me today."
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