Elina Svitolina

Elina Mykhaylivna Svitolina (Ukrainian: Еліна Михайлівна Світоліна, pronounced [ˈɛlʲinɑ switɔˈlʲinɑ]; born 12 September 1994) is a professional Ukrainian tennis player. As of 18 July 2016, she is ranked world no. 20 and is currently the highest-ranked Ukrainian player. She reached her WTA career high ranking of 14 on 7 March 2016.

Svitolina has got four WTA titles to her name to date. She won her maiden title at the 2013 Baku Cup and successfully defended the title in 2014. She then earned her first Top 10 career victory when she defeated Petra Kvitová in the round of 16 in Cincinnati. In 2015, she made her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the French Open where she lost to Ana Ivanovic. That same year, she also won her third WTA title in Marrakech. Her fourth WTA trophy came in early 2016 as she beat Eugenie Bouchard in the final at the 2016 Malaysian Open.

Contents [hide] 1 Tennis career 1.1 Early career 1.2 2013 1.3 2014 1.4 2015: First Grand Slam quarterfinal 1.5 2016: Fourth WTA title; Olympic quarterfinals

2 Coaches 3 Personal life 4 Equipment 5 WTA career finals 5.1 Singles: 4 (4 titles) 5.2 Doubles: 2 (2 titles)

6 WTA 125K career finals 6.1 Singles: 1 (1 title)

7 ITF Circuit finals 7.1 ITF Circuit singles finals: 9 (7–2) 7.2 ITF Circuit doubles finals: 6 (2–4) 7.3 Team finals: 1 (0–0)

8 Junior Grand Slam finals 8.1 Junior Grand Slam singles finals: 2 (1–1) 8.2 Junior Grand Slam doubles finals: 1 (0–1)

9 Performance timeline 9.1 Singles 9.1.1 Notes

9.2 Doubles

10 Wins over top 10 players 11 References 12 External links

Tennis career
Early career

Svitolina's best achievement as a junior is winning the Roland Garros girls event in 2010, beating Tunisian Ons Jabeur in the final.[2] She reached her first professional singles final at the ITF $25,000 tournament in Kharkiv in May 2010.[3] Svitolina also reached the final of the girl's singles event at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships where she lost to future Top 10 player Eugenie Bouchard. Svitolina qualified for the 2012 US Open. She was defeated in the first round by 12th seed and eventual quarter-finalist Ana Ivanovic of Serbia. She won the WTA 125K 2012 Royal Indian Open title in Pune, defeating Andreja Klepač, Rutuja Bhosale, Luksika Kumkhum, former Top 10 player Andrea Petkovic, and Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in the final.

2013

Svitolina gained direct entry into the 2013 Australian Open, where she was defeated by fifth seed Angelique Kerber in the first round. She won her first WTA title in at the 2013 Baku Cup by beating Shahar Pe'er; in doing so, Svitolina became the first teenager to win a WTA tournament since February 2012.[4] The victory also translated into a jump of 32 spots in the WTA Rankings, landing her at No. 49 in the rankings of 29 July 2013.[5]

2014

At the 2014 Australian Open, Svitolina defeated two-time Grand Slam champion and three-time Australian Open quarter-finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova in the opening round in straight sets.[6] She went on to reach the third round, losing to Sloane Stephens in straight sets.

At the Western & Southern Open later in the year, Svitolina recorded the first top ten victory of her career, defeating recently crowned Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitová in the second round.[7] She proceeded to reach her first quarterfinal at Premier 5 level, eventually losing to Ana Ivanovic in straight sets.[8]

Svitolina reached her first Premier 5 semifinal in the first edition of the WTA tournament in Wuhan, defeating Camila Giorgi, Sabine Lisicki, Garbiñe Muguruza via walkover, and Angelique Kerber before losing to Petra Kvitová in the semifinals.

2015: First Grand Slam quarterfinal

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Svitolina began her 2015 season at the 2015 Brisbane International where she reached the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Maria Sharapova. At the Australian Open, Svitolina reached the third round, and won the first set against world number one and eventual champion Serena Williams before losing in three sets.[9] She fell in the second round in both Dubai and Doha, losing in tight three set matches to Petra Kvitová and Victoria Azarenka respectively.

As the 23rd seed in Indian Wells, she defeated Alison Van Uytvanck and Lucie Šafářová, before losing in the fourth round to Timea Bacsinszky. The following week in Miami, she defeated Bojana Jovanovski, before losing in the third round to the eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova. As the top seed at a tournament for the first time in Bogotá, Svitolina reached the semifinals, defeating Louisa Chirico, Danka Kovinić and Irina Falconi, before losing to eventual champion Teliana Pereira.

Svitolina continued her successful start to the clay court season by winning her third career title and first on clay in Marrakech, recovering from 2–5 down in the opening set to defeat Tímea Babos in straight sets. The victory propelled her to a career high ranking of 21. She also reached the semifinals in doubles with compatriot Olga Savchuk. The following week in Madrid, after easily dispatching Daniela Hantuchová, Svitolina lost to Ana Ivanovic for the sixth time in her career. A similar scenario occurred in Rome, where she defeated Flavia Pennetta in straight sets before losing to Venus Williams.

At the French Open, after comfortably seeing off Yanina Wickmayer in her opening match, Svitolina had to recover from 0–3 in the second set and 1–4 in the final set to beat Yulia Putintseva in a match that lasted over three hours. Another tight three set victory ensued in the third round against Annika Beck, before Svitolina defeated Alizé Cornet in a rain-interrupted fourth round encounter to set up a maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal against seventh seed Ana Ivanovic, which she lost in straight sets. Svitolina rose to number 17 after this tournament, surpassing Alona Bondarenko as the highest-ranked Ukrainian woman in the Open Era, including women from Ukraine who played under the Soviet Union.

Svitolina's grass court season was significantly less successful, losing in three sets in the second round of Eastbourne to Heather Watson. As the 17th seed at Wimbledon, she came from a set down to beat Misaki Doi, who beat her at the same stage the previous year, before again losing in the second round to Australian Casey Dellacqua. Despite losing in the first round of İstanbul to Magdaléna Rybáriková, Svitolina successfully defended her doubles title from the previous year, this time partnering Daria Gavrilova.

Svitolina began her American hard court season with a run to the semifinals in Stanford, losing in straight sets to eventual champion Angelique Kerber. At the Rogers Cup, Svitolina lost in the first round to Victoria Azarenka. Svitolina bettered her performance from the previous year in Cincinnati, defeating Alison Riske, Eugenie Bouchard and Caroline Garcia to reach the quarterfinals, before defeating Lucie Šafářová for the second time this year to progress to her second Premier 5 Semifinal, where she lost to Serena Williams. Svitolina concluded her warm up for the US Open in New Haven, where she retired from her first round match against Madison Keys. She progressed to the third round of the US Open, defeating Elizaveta Kulichkova and Kaia Kanepi, before losing to 13th seed Ekaterina Makarova for the third time this year.

The Asian hard court swing began in Tokyo for Svitolina, where she lost in the second round to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska. Svitolina failed to repeat her success from the previous year in Wuhan, losing in the third round to Karolína Plíšková. Similarly disappointing results ensued for Svitolina, losing in the second round of Beijing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and the first round of Tianjin to Elena Vesnina.

Despite this disappointing end to her season, Svitolina's consistency throughout the year earned her a spot as the eighth seed at the inaugural WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai. She was drawn into Group B with second seed Carla Suárez Navarro and Andrea Petkovic. Svitolina topped the group by winning both her matches, advancing to the semifinals where she lost to Karolína Plíšková. Svitolina's last match of the season was against Pauline Parmentier in the first round of the 125K event in Limoges, which she lost on a final set tiebreak.

2016: Fourth WTA title; Olympic quarterfinals

Svitolina began her season at the 2016 Hopman Cup, representing Ukraine with Alexandr Dolgopolov. She was undefeated in her singles matches in the round robin stage, defeating Victoria Duval, Karolína Plíšková and Jarmila Wolfe. Svitolina and Dolgopolov were the winners of their group, and advanced to the final, where the Australian pairing of Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova defeated them 2-0, with Svitolina losing her singles match in straight sets. At the Sydney International, Svitolina lost in the first round to Angelique Kerber. She then competed at the 2016 Australian Open, where she defeated Victoria Duval in straight sets, before losing to Japanese qualifier Naomi Osaka in the second round.

In her first tournament with Justine Henin acting as a coaching consultant, Svitolina advanced to the semifinals in Dubai, defeating qualifier Jana Čepelová, earning her first top 10 win of the year over second seed Garbiñe Muguruza,[10] and battling past Coco Vandeweghe in three sets, before losing to eventual champion Sara Errani. Svitolina subsequently lost in the first round in Doha to Denisa Allertová.

Her next tournament was the Malaysian Open, where she defeated Miyu Kato, Risa Ozaki, Kristína Kučová and Zhu Lin en route to the final where she beat a resurgent Eugenie Bouchard in a rain-interrupted marathon to win her 4th WTA title. This victory saw her maintain her perfect record in WTA finals, as well as improving her ranking to a career high of 14.

At the 2016 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, 17th seed Svitolina defeated Annika Beck, before losing in straight sets to ninth seed Roberta Vinci. Then, in Miami, after defeating Australian Open quarterfinalist Zhang Shuai, Svitolina scored one of the biggest victories of her career, coming from a break down in the third set to defeat former world number one Caroline Wozniacki in three sets in the third round. Svitolina subsequently lost in the fourth round to Ekaterina Makarova, who beat her at the same tournament last year.

Svitolina began her clay court season with a disappointing first round loss to Alexandra Panova in Bogotá, followed by a second round loss to Daria Gavrilova in Madrid, and a first round loss to qualifier Mónica Puig in Rome. Entering the French Open in poor form, Svitolina beat Romanian qualifer Sorana Cîrstea and wildcard Taylor Townsend before beating nemesis and former world number one Ana Ivanovic in straight sets.[11] She then lost in the fourth round to world number one, defending champion and eventual finalist Serena Williams.

After Roland Garros, Svitolina began her grass season in Birmingham where she lost in the first round to Carla Suárez Navarro. At Wimbledon, she beat Naomi Broady in straight sets before being upset by Yaroslava Shvedova.

At the Rio Olympics, Svitolina scored a straight sets victory over defending champion Serena Williams in the third round to reach the quarterfinals, wherein she was eventually defeated by Petra Kvitova.[12]

Coaches
Svitolina is currently being coached by Iain Hughes.[13] In February 2016, Svitolina appointed former world number one Justine Henin as a member of her coaching team.[14]

Personal life
Elina Svitolina was born to Olena Svitolina and Mikhaylo Svitolin and has a brother named Yulian.[13] She resides at Kharkiv, Ukraine, and started playing tennis at age 5, when she was introduced to the sport by her family.[13][15] Her favourite surfaces are grass and clay.[13]

Equipment
Svitolina uses Wilson racquets and is sponsored by Nike, having previously been sponsored by Italian sports apparel company Ellesse and French apparel Lacoste.[16]

WTA career finals
Singles: 4 (4 titles)

Legend

Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0) Premier (0–0) International (4–0)

Titles by surface

Hard (3–0) Grass (0–0) Clay (1–0) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome

No.

Date

Tournament

Surface

Opponent in final

Score in final

Winner 1. July 28, 2013 Baku Cup, Baku, Azerbaijan Hard Israel Shahar Pe'er 6–4, 6–4 Winner 2. July 27, 2014 Baku Cup, Baku, Azerbaijan Hard Serbia Bojana Jovanovski 6–1, 7–6(7–2) Winner 3. May 2, 2015 Marrakech Grand Prix, Marrakesh, Morocco Clay Hungary Tímea Babos 7–5, 7–6(7–3) Winner 4. March 6, 2016 Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Hard Canada Eugenie Bouchard 6–7(5–7), 6–4, 7–5

Doubles: 2 (2 titles)

Winner — Legend

Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0) Premier (0–0) International (2–0)

Titles by Surface

Hard (2–0) Grass (0–0) Clay (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome

No.

Date

Tournament

Surface

Partner

Opponents

Score

Winner 1. 20 July 2014 İstanbul Cup, Istanbul, Turkey Hard Japan Misaki Doi Georgia (country) Oksana Kalashnikova Poland Paula Kania 6–4, 6–0 Winner 2. 26 July 2015 İstanbul Cup, Istanbul, Turkey Hard Russia Daria Gavrilova Turkey Çağla Büyükakçay Serbia Jelena Janković 5–7, 6–1, [10–4]

WTA 125K career finals
Singles: 1 (1 title)

Outcome

No.

Date

Tournament

Surface

Opponent in final

Score in final

Winner 1. 5 November 2012 Pune, India Hard Japan Kimiko Date-Krumm 6–2, 6–3

ITF Circuit finals
ITF Circuit singles finals: 9 (7–2)

Legend

WTA 125s tournaments $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Outcome

No.

Date

Tournament

Surface

Opponent

Score

Runner–up 1. May 17, 2010 Kharkiv, Ukraine Clay Ukraine Lyudmyla Kichenok 2–6, 6–4, 1–6 Winner 1. August 16, 2011 Istanbul, Turkey Hard Slovenia Anja Prislan 6–2, 6–7(5–7), 6–0 Winner 2. October 17, 2011 Lagos, Nigeria Hard Croatia Donna Vekić 6–4, 6–3 Runner–up 2. December 26, 2011 Tyumen, Russia Hard Russia Yulia Putintseva 2–6, 4–6 Winner 3. March 19, 2012 La Marsa, Tunisia Clay Bulgaria Isabella Shinikova 7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–5) Winner 4. September 24, 2012 Telavi, Georgia Clay Ukraine Lesia Tsurenko 6–1, 6–2 Winner 5. November 5, 2012 Pune, India Hard Japan Kimiko Date-Krumm 6–2, 6–3 Winner 6. February 3, 2013 Eilat, Israel Hard Russia Marta Sirotkina 6–3, 3–6, 7–5 Winner 7. August 3, 2013 Donetsk, Ukraine Hard Hungary Tímea Babos 3–6, 6–2, 7–6(11–9)

ITF Circuit doubles finals: 6 (2–4)

Legend

WTA 125s tournaments $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Outcome

No.

Date

Tournament

Surface

Partner

Opponents

Score

Runner–up 1. May 25, 2009 Kharkiv, Ukraine Clay Ukraine Kateryna Kozlova Ukraine Kateryna Avdiyenko Russia Maria Zharkova 7–6(7–3), 3–6, [9–11] Runner–up 2. May 3, 2010 Kharkiv, Ukraine Clay Ukraine Kateryna Kozlova Ukraine Lyudmyla Kichenok Ukraine Nadiya Kichenok 4–6, 2–6 Winner 1. July 19, 2010 Kharkiv, Ukraine Clay Ukraine Kateryna Kozlova Ukraine Valentyna Ivakhnenko Ukraine Alyona Sotnikova 6–3, 7–5 Runner–up 3. April 18, 2011 Tessenderlo, Belgium Clay Ukraine Maryna Zanevska Germany Anna-Lena Grönefeld Germany Tatjana Malek 5–7, 3–6 Runner-up 4. 29 October 2011 Lagos, Nigeria Carpet (i) Montenegro Danka Kovinić Austria Melanie Klaffner Romania Ágnes Szatmári 0–6, 7–6, [5–10] Winner 2. January 28, 2013 Eilat. Israel Hard Russia Alla Kudryavtseva Italy Corinna Dentoni Belarus Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6–1, 6–3

Team finals: 1 (0–0)

Outcome

No.

Date

Tournament

Surface

Partner

Opponents

Score

Runner-up 1. 9 January 2016 Hopman Cup, Perth, Australia Hard (i) Ukraine Alexandr Dolgopolov Australia Daria Gavrilova Australia Nick Kyrgios 0–2

Junior Grand Slam finals
Junior Grand Slam singles finals: 2 (1–1)

Outcome

Year

Championship

Surface

Opponent

Score

Winner 2010 French Open Clay Tunisia Ons Jabeur 6–2, 7–5 Runner-up 2012 Wimbledon Championships Grass Canada Eugenie Bouchard 2–6, 2–6

Junior Grand Slam doubles finals: 1 (0–1)

Outcome

Year

Tournament

Surface

Partner

Opponent

Score

Runner–up 2010 Wimbledon Championships Grass Russia Irina Khromacheva Hungary Tímea Babos United States Sloane Stephens 7–6(9–7), 2–6, 2–6

Performance timeline
Singles

Key

W F  SF QF R# RR Q# A P Z# PO G F-S SF-B NMS NH

(W) Won tournament; reached (F) final, (SF) semifinal, (QF) quarterfinal; (R#) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; competed at a (RR) round-robin stage; reached a (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent from tournament; played in a (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; won a (G) gold, (F-S) silver or (SF-B) bronze Olympic medal; a (NMS) downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament; or (NH) tournament not held.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated either at the conclusion of a tournament, or when the player's participation in the tournament has ended.

Tournament

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

SR

W–L

Grand Slam tournaments Australian Open A A 1R 3R 3R 2R 0 / 4 5–4 French Open Q1 Q2 2R 2R QF 4R 0 / 4 9–4 Wimbledon A Q1 1R 1R 2R 2R 0 / 4 2–4 US Open A 1R 2R 1R 3R 0 / 4 3–4

Win–Loss

0–0

0–1

2–4

3–4

9–4

5–3

0 / 16

19–16

WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments Indian Wells A A 1R 2R 4R 3R 0 / 4 4–4 Miami A A Q2 4R 3R 4R 0 / 2 6–3 Madrid A A A 1R 2R 2R 0 / 2 2–3 Beijing A A 1R 2R 2R 0 / 2 0–2 WTA Premier 5 Tournaments Dubai / Doha[1] A A A 1R 2R 1R 0 / 2 1–2 Rome A A A 1R 2R 1R 0 / 2 1–3 Canada A A A A 1R 0 / 1 0–1 Cincinnati A A A QF SF 0 / 2 7–2 Tokyo / Wuhan[2] A A 2R SF 3R 0 / 2 5–2

Career Statistics

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

No.

Tournaments Played 0 3 19 25 19 6 Titles 0

0

1

1

1

0

3

Finals Reached 0 0 1 1 1 0 3 Overall Win–Loss 0–0

0–3

13–19

35–24

32–18

5–6

86–71

Year-End Ranking 269 156 40 29 19

Notes 1 The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Total Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009–2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status.

2 In 2014, the Toray Pan Pacific Open was downgraded to a Premier event and replaced by the Wuhan Open.

Doubles

Tournament

2013

2014

W–L

Grand Slam tournaments Australian Open 1R 0–1 French Open 2R 1–1 Wimbledon 1R 0–1 US Open 1R 2R 1–2

Win–Loss

0–1

2–4

2–5

Wins over top 10 players
No.

Player

Rank

Event

Surface

Round

Score

2014 1. Czech Republic Petra Kvitová No. 3 Cincinnati, US Hard 3rd Round 6–2, 7–6(7–2) 2. Germany Angelique Kerber No. 8 Wuhan, China Hard Quarterfinals 6–4, 7–6(7–3) 2015 3. Germany Angelique Kerber No. 9 Brisbane, Australia Hard Quarterfinals 4–6, 7–5, 6–3 4. Czech Republic Lucie Šafářová No. 7 Cincinnati, US Hard Quarterfinals 6–4, 2–6, 6–0 2016 5. Spain Garbiñe Muguruza No. 5 Dubai, United Arab Emirates Hard 2nd Round 7–6(7-3), 6–3 6. United States Serena Williams No. 1 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro Hard 3rd Round 6–4, 6–3