Svitolina outlasts Pliskova in Roland Garros first-round showdown

In a first-round showdown between former Top 3 players, No.15 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine overcame the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Court Suzanne Lenglen at Roland Garros on Monday.

It took Svitolina 1 hour and 56 minutes to pull off the come-from-behind win and reach the second round in Paris once more. Svitolina is a perfect 11-0 in first-round matches at the French Open.

Paris prominence: It was barely over one year ago when Svitolina’s comeback from maternity leave took flight. After giving birth to daughter Skai in October 2022, Svitolina returned to tour in April 2023. She quickly reclaimed elite form, winning the Strasbourg title, then reaching the Roland Garros quarterfinals one week later.

Svitolina has posted quarterfinal finishes at Roland Garros on four occasions, dating back to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in 2015. Today’s win is Svitolina’s 90th at Grand Slam level.

Veteran rivalry continued: Svitolina, 29, and 32-year-old Pliskova have both made their mark as two of the Hologic WTA Tour’s top players over the last decade.

Pliskova reached World No.1 in 2016 and has made two Grand Slam finals, while Svitolina reached a career-high of No.3 as early as 2017. And they have each won an identical 17 WTA singles titles.

Naturally, their rivalry has been robust — their Roland Garros meeting on Monday was their 10th career showdown. Pliskova won their first five matches between 2011 and 2017, but Svitolina reeled off victories in their next four matches.

Despite their long history, this was their first meeting at a Grand Slam event. On this occasion, it was Svitolina who took control down the stretch, beating Pliskova for the fifth straight time and leveling their head-to-head at 5-5.

Match moments: Pliskova, who started the year strongly and won 11 straight matches during a 15-day span in February, was the dominant force in the opening set after rebounding from an early break down. She won 11 out of 18 points returning Svitolina’s first serve in that set.

However, Svitolina opened up the court with well-placed groundstrokes in the second set, and she earned triple set point with a backhand winner at 5-4. Svitolina broke Pliskova at love to tie up proceedings, matching big-hitting Pliskova in winners with 10 apiece in the second set.

In the third set, another love break determined the fate of the match. At 3-2, 0-40, Svitolina placed one more stellar crosscourt backhand directly towards Pliskova’s feet, which the Czech could not handle. Svitolina did not drop another game.

Next up: Svitolina, who is married to French ATP player Gael Monfils, will face one of her husband’s compatriots in the second round. She will next play Diane Parry, who beat another Frenchwoman, Fiona Ferro, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Their only prior meeting came just last week in Strasbourg, where Svitolina beat Parry 6-3, 6-4.