Elina Svitolina pulls off tremendous comeback at Porsche Tennis GP

Elina Svitolina clenches her first during the quarterfinal match against Petra Kvitova at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Friday. 

Elina Svitolina never stopped believing that she could win at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Friday night. The Ukrainian played every game against Petra Kvitova, who gave it her all through three sets winning 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-2. The comeback that the world number five pulled off against one of her biggest rivals ended with her winning 11 of the last 13 games. 

The two played their 12th match together and the second this season. Svitolina played a three-setter in Miami against the Czech, coming back from 6-2 down to play the next 24 games and come out the winner. Kvitova had two matches under her belt in Stuttgart, coming into the quarterfinal more than prepared for another fight with the Ukrainian. Her win against Sakkari made it five sets played to Svitolina’s two, but it came down to who was settled best on the clay court with both successful on it in their careers. 

Svitolina earned the opportunity to serve first and delivered a good win over Kvitova. The fourth seed worked well to edge the Czech, who served the second but needed to force deuce to stay in her game. The Ukrainian forced the issue quickly, gaining the AD point to sit a break-up. Kvitova broke back in the third, holding the breakpoint needed to consolidate and level in the following game. Through the next four games, they each held serve before Kvitova made the push for the lead with a break. 

Svitolina broke back in the tenth and held in the 11th despite double-faulting on serve. There was no pressure on Kvitova, who knew that her serve could come through and clinch her service game to force a tiebreak. Things continued to be tight between the two players as they split the next six points. Kvitova scored a key mini-break that gave her the lead and added another to jump ahead of the fourth seed. 

Kvitova pressured Svitolina during the rally for the ninth point, forcing her opponent to err and reach the set point. The Czech answered well in the rally that included a straight return, but the court was open for the fourth seed, who got it back out of Kvitova’s reach. Despite the lost opportunity, the seventh seed had room to get the job done and clinched the first in 52 minutes. Though she had more unforced errors and double faults than Svitolina, her serve percentage fared better and was responsible for giving her the leverage. 

In the second set, Kvitova opened service, securing the first game. The fourth seed answered her back in the second, scoring an ace before putting down her mark on the court. It was the only one she’d get for a time as Kvitova put things into another gear and opened the gap wide on Svitolina. By the time three games passed, it was 4-1 in favor of the seventh seed, who had the Ukrainian way back. 

She managed to get out of trouble on serve in the sixth, forcing deuce with Kvitova to contain service, but the effort was short-lived. The Czech comfortable took care of business on serve to sit one game from the match, hopeful that she could pressure Svitolina into submission. Things didn’t go as planned as the Ukrainian worked through it all, winning the next two games. As she sat a game down from pushing the set deep, Kvitova then felt the pressure of the scoreboard. Playing against Svitolina’s serve, the opportunity quickly faded away as the 26-year-old succeeded to play on. 

The Czech had balls in hand to go up a game while trying to avoid Svitolina from getting a fourth game in a row. The surge from the fourth seed was too much for Kvitova to handle and watched her game break. Svitolina went into the 12th having saved two match points and in the 12th, two break points to go on and send them to the distance after 61 minutes. The 31-year-old still had more winners for the second time, but unforced errors helped Svitolina be in a true position to dictate. 

Her 71 percent performance on the first serve showed well in the third as she took control in the second, winning the next two games. Sitting a break down, Kvitova tried to avoid giving her opponent another double break while on serve. She was forced to save a breakpoint to force deuce, but while she struggled to keep up, Svitolina continued to produce AD points with the fourth one doing the trick to sit up 4-1. 

Her comfort level increased, helping her on serve in the sixth where she took care of holding Kvitova back and go for the break that would end it. The Czech tried to avoid giving it up from her end, but Svitolina fought to force deuce and caught two more match points. She saved them both and brought up an AD point for herself that resulted in a long return from the Ukrainian. 

While she managed to save one more game, Svitolina had the chance to serve it out on her terms in the eighth. Though Kvitova forced things to deuce, the match would be closed out b Svitolina who pulled off an incredible return to reach her fourth match point and watch a fly ball return fall long of the baseline. It was a thrill for Svitolina to come through victorious after 2 hours and 37 minutes defeating one of her toughest opponents. 

“It was a really tough battle today,” said Svitolina after the match. “I was expecting for a big match but I didn’t know it would be that tough. In the end, I’m happy that I came back in the second set to win like this, it’s definitely something special.” 

In the semifinal, she’ll have to go through world number one Ashleigh Barty in her third attempt, having recently lost to her in Miami.