Elina Svitolina crashed out of French Open 2018 in the third round as she lost 3-6 5-7 to Mihaela Buzarnescu.
The Ukrainian has twice reached the quarter-final stage at Roland Garros and was one of the favourites to win the tournament this year after she won her second successive Italian Open title.
However, Svitolina dropped her serve in the third game against the Romanian and, although she fought hard, she never really recovered.
Buzarnescu served well and played aggressively throughout. She hit 31 winners and won 61% of all points played on her serve. She also saved five break points in the match.
After breaking Svitolina in the third game, the Romanian held to love. She then withstood considerable pressure from the Ukrainian in her next two service games to maintain her two-game advantage, before gaining another break to clinch the set.
Svitolina wastes her chances
Svitolina improved in the second set and broke to lead 2-1. But she failed to take advantage as she lost her own serve in the next game.
The World No.4 broke again to go 5-4 up and earned a set point on her serve that would have taken the match into a decider. Once again, she failed to capitalise and Buzarnescu levelled at 5-5.
This failure proved fatal for Svitolina’s chances. Her opponent, who is the World No.33, held easily and then battled hard to break the Ukrainian and seal a famous win.
Svitolina must now reflect on her disappointing exit and focus on rebounding well during the grass season. She made far too many errors against Buzarnescu (29) and won just 46% of points behind her first serve.
The Romanian, who is enjoying the best season of her career at the age of 30, can now look forward to a last 16 meeting with Madison Keys.
Svitolina rues missed chance
In her press conference, Svitolina was asked what it was like to face a player who she did not know much about because she had risen quickly up the rankings.
“Definitely it’s a challenge, but we have to deal with these kinds of things,” said Svitolina. “I had to be ready, and today my game was not there. She completely deserved to get the win.”
The Ukrainian was also asked about her pre-tournament status as a contender for the title.
“I didn’t consider myself (that way),” said Svitolina. “There are good players who are probably in better form than me that played better clay court tournaments.”
“Of course I believed that I can play well in the Grand Slams, but I didn’t really think that I’m the favorite. I don’t want to think those ways.”
Finally, Svitolina reflected on a missed opportunity. “Days like this, they can happen. Next time, hopefully I can handle it better,” she said.
“I had the chances today, but I didn’t take them. So I have to work really hard next time to not lose those moments.”
