Third, her higher seeding hadn’t earned her an easier opponent. She was playing Anna Bondar, a 28-year-old Hungarian who has had a late-career mini-surge, one that included two wins in her last two matches with Svitolina.
“Anna, we played many times against her—tired to play against her,” Svitolina laughed.
Bondar cracks a heavy forehand to either corner, but can be a hot-and-cold hitter. Today she started hot, controlling the rallies through the first set. In the second she went cold, before heating up again at the right moment, with Svitolina serving at 5-4 in the third. Bondar won eight straight points, many of them with forehand winners, to lead 6-5.
Now the tension really showed on Svitolina’s face. But it was her tenacity that won out. She steadied herself, while Bondar lost her form again, and Svitolina closed out a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10-3) win with a neatly carved drop volley.
