Svitolina defeats Russia's best tennis player to reach Roland Garros quarter-finals

Ukraine's No. 7 Elina Svitolina (WTA No. 192) has reached the quarter-finals of the French Open tennis championships with a prize pool of €49.6 million. In the fourth round of Roland Garros, the 28-year-old from Odesa defeated Russia's top tennis player Daria Kasatkina (WTA No. 9) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) on Suzanne Lenglen Court.

Svitolina was the first to engage in active play on the court and easily took the break. Kasatkina tried to regain the initiative and was close to taking the Ukrainian's serve, but at the right moment our compatriot gathered herself and took the point. Elina did not allow the Russian to do anything, and was particularly successful in resisting Daria's serial shots.

The Ukrainian tennis player worked easily and naturally on the court, dictating her terms to her opponent. In such an enchanting rhythm, Svitolina reached a 4-1 lead, after which she allowed the 26-year-old native of Togliatti to take someone else's serve, and then her own 4-3.

The Ukrainian tennis player began to make mistakes, the first serve went in and the Odesa player took the game with great difficulty, not allowing the Russian representative to level the score in the set. At the end of the game, the Ukrainian demonstrated tremendous dedication, which allowed her to celebrate a 1-0 victory.

The Russian started the second set with more confidence. She attacked more powerfully, periodically drove her opponent around the court and made it 2-0 quite easily. Svitolina continued to pull the balls that were coming phenomenally and made a break point, not allowing the first Russian racket to build on her success. Instead, the 7th seed of Ukraine won 3 games in a row.

Elina's clear advantage was that she used every opportunity to attack. The same could not be said about Kasatkina, who stayed in the court for a long time. The girls spent a lot of energy on long rallies.

Breaks ensued on the court. It was on other people's serves that the tennis players acted more aggressively, scoring points. There was a feeling that Daria had built her tactics on wearing Elina down.

The Ukrainian was still leading the game, Kasatkina was playing more defensively, and at 5-3, the Russian athlete had to go all-in. The Ukrainian tennis player was in a noticeable hurry to finish the game, but in the end she lost her advantage, giving the game to Daria.

In the very next game, Svitolina served for the match, but missed her chance to win early, postponing the decider for two more games (5:5). Leading 6-5, Elina began to force the situation on the court and made four errors, giving the game away.

The tiebreaker was a real game of nerves, with the Ukrainian prima having the better of it.

Svitolina will play the winner of the pair Sloane Stephens (USA) - Arina Sobolenko (Belarus) to reach the semi-finals. The match will start at 21:15.

It will be recalled that on her way to the 1/8 finals, Svitolina defeated Martina Trevisan (6-2, 6-2), Storm Hunter (2-6, 6-3, 6-1) and Anna Blinkova (2-6, 6-2, 7-5).

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