Krejcikova wins in three sets at the Summer Olympics

Barbora Krejcikova serves up a shot during the round of 16 match against Elina Svitolina at the Summer Olympics. 

Elina Svitolina gave it her best but the heat and competition were too much to overcome at the Summer Olympics Tuesday. Barbora Krejcikovabrought her best back to the grounds of Roland Garros to defeat the Ukrainian 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4 on Court Simone Mathieu. The doubles gold medalist brought out all the skills to make the last eight of the women’s singles tournament.

The two met back on the grounds of Roland Garros for the second time in three years. Their last meeting went the way of the Czech, who went on to win the championship. This year’s French Open didn’t go well for Krejcikova, going 0-4 during the clay court season. Her battle against Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo was challenging, then caught a break against Xinyu Wang in the second round. 

The Ukrainian eased through the opening round and faced a tough Jessica Pegula, who didn’t have great records on clay but it was a late night victory for Svitolina. As the only defending medalist in the tournament, the 29-year-old wanted a win to come against Krejcikova by any means. 

Her efforts to play strong came through as she conducted a string of early victories against the Czech. After holding serve, she caught a break point chance at deuce to take the lone AD point and sit two games up. Svitolina consolidated, holding serve on Krejcikova, having the largest lead of the tournament to date. 

The Czech didn’t have her serve in check during the fourth game, suffering a double fault and errors. With the break chances in hand, Krejcikova erased them from memory, getting to deuce on a drop shot near the net. Krejcikova handled the AD point, scoring a crosscourt winner to notch a win in the set. 

A break on Svitolina lessened the gap for Krejcikova after the fifth game, earning a chance to overcome the entire deficit. Svitolina broke back in the sixth, only to suffer another breakback at the hands of Krejcikova in the seventh. The Czech scored the shutout on serve, leveling the score at the business end of the set. 

Svitolina worked hard in the ninth, needing two breaks to hold serve and play for the set. Krejcikova killed off that scenario, holding the Ukrainian to a point in the tenth. Svitolina responded serving Krejcikova to love, but breaking her was not in the cards. The 28-year-old held Svitolina to a point to force the set to a tiebreak. The two traded errors to one another, keeping the score close through five points. 

The two traded errors and winners to remain locked through ten points until an ace gave Krejcikova set point. A long ball from Svitolina handed the Czech the much-awaited victory after an hour of play. Both combined for 36 errors, with Krejcikova having the most. It came down to Svitolina’s four double faults that beat up her second serve, and unable to keep up with the Czech’s offensive pace.

Krejcikova got into the second, holding serve on the Ukrainian, who needed more from her service to get the job done. The Czech took her through two breaks before she could secure the one-all score. The 29-year-old managed to counter in the third, forcing deuce and winning it on the first break. Krejcikova tried to break back in the fourth, forcing deuce to gain a break-point chance. It was the only one she reached, while the Ukrainian took three attempts to clinch her service. The Czech kept her serve short in the fifth, followed by Svitolina, who had a two-game margin in her favor. 

The 29-year-old widened the gap, scoring a break in the seventh game to serve for a second straight deciding set. She got it done, serving to love, forcing them to the distance after 48 minutes. Svitolina limited the number of errors to six while Krejcikova had 22 in the set. It explained her struggle to return balls across the net and into another full-length match. 

Svitolina took the third to a new level, breaking Krejcikova and consolidating the effort on serve in the second. The 29-year-old blew her chance to double-break the Czech, allowing her opponent to save her service game, avoiding a three-game slide. Krejcikova rallied in the fourth, nearly breaking Svitolina to love. The Ukrainian battled back to force deuce but after two breaks, the win went to the 28-year-old. 

Krejcikova backed up the break in the fifth, holding off another threat from the Ukrainian. Svitolina scored her third shutout, only to watch her opponent do the same for a 4-3 lead. Krejcikova called the trainer to deal with a blister on her toe before proceeding with the eighth game. It was there that she watched breakpoints slip away and somehow score the break on deuce. 

The 28-year-old served for the match, falling behind on back-to-back errors. It left Svitolina with the break chance, taking it on a crosscourt winner. Krejcikova still had room to close out the match and earned three match points on costly errors from Svitolina. A wide return from the 29-year-old brought her tournament to an end and a place for Krejcikova in the quarterfinals after 2 hours and 48 minutes.