Former world no. 3 Elina Svitolina reached the quarter-finals of the WTA Challenger, the Saint Malo Open, in France on Wednesday. The Ukrainian, who’s currently ranked 1088th in the world came from a set down to upset fourth seed Ysaline Bonaventure, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).
The ongoing tournament’s the first such event in Svitolina’s comeback in which she’s won two consecutive matches. Svitolina won in the first round against Greece’s Despina Papamichail, 7-5, 6-1. This is the fourth event in the 28-year-old’s comeback since she announced a pregnancy-related hiatus in 2022 after the Miami Open.
Earlier this year, the WTA 500 event in Charleston marked the first stop in Svitolina’s return. In that event, Svitolina lost in the first round to Yulia Putintseva. Thereafter, she played two ITF tournaments. In the $60k in Chiasso, Switzerland, Svitolina won her opener against seventh seed Elena-Gabriela Ruse but lost in the second round to Ruse’s fellow Romanian, Alexandra Cadantu-Ignatik. In her subsequent tournament, at the $100k tournament in Oeiras, Portugal, Svitolina lost in the opening round to Denmark’s Clara Tauson.
Saint Malo Open: Ukrainain players keep marching on
In the quarter-finals, Svitolina will play Leolia Jeanjean. The Frenchwoman produced an upset of her own in the round-of-16 against fifth seed Lucia Bronzetti.
Seventh seed Magdalena Frech won her second-round match against Elsa Jacquemot, 6-2, 6-3. She’ll play Katie Volynets next. Volynets upset third seed Maryna Zanevska 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in their round-of-16 clash.
Meanwhile, Maryna Zanevska shared a heart-rending message after losing her match in Saint Malo Open. The Belgian, who was born in the Ukrainian province of Odessa shared, “I had very weird feelings today during my match after winning the first set. I have no idea but the siren was on! For maybe 20 seconds. But it felt forever! I started to cry badly! I couldn’t stop! I have never been in Ukraine since 24th of February. I never experienced siren but it was such a trigger point sound! My heartbeat was 200! I was overwhelmed! Usually, when I step on court, it’s my place where I forget about my problems. But here it hit me badly!”