Ukrainian seventh seed avoids third straight defeat to Hungarian
Elina Svitolina summoned one of her grittiest Grand Slam escapes to avoid a first-round exit at Roland-Garros against bogeywoman Anna Bondar on Monday.
The seventh seed appeared down for the count trailing 1-3 in the deciding set before reeling in the 58th-ranked Hungarian 3-6 6-1 7-6[10-3] after two hours and 26 minutes on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
Bondar had stopped the Ukrainian in Madrid leading in – the last player to beat her before her Rome title triumph – and in the opening round of last year’s US Open following opening-round defeats at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon last year.
Shaking the letdown of being broken to love while serving for the match at 5-4, Svitolina – a five-time quarterfinalist in Paris – regrouped to dominate the match tiebreak for a second-round meeting with qualifier Katie Quevedo or wildcard Leolia Jeanjean.
More to come …
ROLAND-GARROS
18 May - 7 June 2026
