It was yet another breakthrough season for #ElinaSvitolina, who once again proved that she can challenge the best of the best, a distinctive group where she belongs to as well. The Ukrainian overcame several health issues throughout the year, with concerns being raised about her excessive weight loss, and closed out 2018 in the best possible way by claiming five consecutive top-10 wins to hoist the Billie Jean King Trophy at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global amidst her underdog and outsider status coming into the tournament.
Svitolina amassed an impressive 44-15 win-loss record in 2018, recording nine top-10 wins in the process. Despite not performing at the Grand Slams, Svitolina excelled during the normal tour events, claiming four WTA titles this year and ending the year as the world number four.
Although a Grand Slam trophy is still missing from her cabinet of achievements, Svitolina will be proud of how she “proved the haters wrong” especially after a tough stretch of results in which everything went completely wrong for her. The first half of 2018 saw Svitolina grabbing two Premier 5 trophies and a Premier trophy in Brisbane, but the second half of the season (after Roland Garros) saw her amassing a poor 12-8 win-loss record until some Singapore magic turned her entire season, and possibly her entire career, around.
It has always been those big wins on the big stages which eluded Svitolina, but her WTA Finals triumph was an accurate reflection of the improvement in her game, and most importantly her mentality and hunger to win. She was able to stay calm and come up with solutions to tricky situations all by herself, finding a sense of independence on the court.
High Points of the Season
Svitolina started her season in the best possible way — hoisting the trophy at the Brisbane International, where the field was tight-packed, after navigating her way past several tough opponents consecutively. She earned terrific wins over Carla Suarez Navarro and Ana Konjuh and benefitted from her doubles partner Johanna Konta’s retirement in their quarterfinal encounter despite not breaking serve throughout the match. She then exacted revenge for her semifinal loss in 2017 by turning the tables against Karolina Pliskova, before outclassing qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich in a one-sided final.
Her good run continued at the Australian Open where she made her maiden quarterfinal appearance down under. Receiving a favourable draw, Svitolina was tipped to mount a title challenge but she was not able to convert her chances as she was beaten by the surprise package in Elise Mertens in the last eight.
Svitolina’s strong start to the season saw her successfully defending her title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships amidst a tough draw. She had to survive difficult challenges from the hard-hitting Wang Qiang and Naomi Osaka before storming past both Angelique Kerber and Daria Kasatkina to lift the trophy once more, her second of 2018.
In what could be one of the most impressive wins of 2018 for Svitolina, the Ukrainian defeated the red-hot Naomi Osaka in straight sets in the second round of the Miami Open. This victory was extremely significant as Osaka had just won the BNP Paribas Open before upsetting Serena Williams in the first round, making Svitolina’s win even more special. Svitolina went on to reach the quarterfinals with solid wins over Daria Gavrilova and Ashleigh Barty.
Svitolina’s Internazionali BNL D’Italia title defence was even more impressive. She had to stave off some tricky opponents en route; defeating three top-20 players to defend her title in Rome. Svitolina had to retrieve from a bagel defeat against Daria Kasatkina to triumph before steering past Angelique Kerber, Anett Kontaveit and stunning world number one Simona Halep with a surprisingly one-sided 6-0, 6-4 scoreline to lift her third trophy of 2018.
The next semifinal appearance for Svitolina came at the Rogers Cup, where she was also the defending champion. She was given the worst possible draw — with nemesis Mihaela Buzarnescu awaiting in the opening round. In unfortunate circumstances, just when Svitolina seemed on course to grab the huge win, the Romanian suffered from a bad fall and was forced to retire.
She backed it up with terrific performances against Johanna Konta and Elise Mertens, avenging her Australian Open loss. Amidst her good run, Svitolina was unable to put up a tough fight against Sloane Stephens in the last four and fell out of the top-five as a result of her loss.
The BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore was truly a dream tournament for Svitolina — who entered the tournament with barely anyone fancying her chances for the championship. Even the Ukrainian herself admitted that she was “preparing for Zhuhai” after knowing that her spot was in jeopardy.
She was handed the worst possible opponents — Petra Kvitova, whom she has not beaten in seven consecutive meetings; Karolina Pliskova, whom she owns a 1-3 head-to-head record against on hard courts; Caroline Wozniacki, the defending champion whom she lost 2-6, 0-6 to last year on the same court.
If the first match were to be a hint of how Svitolina’s week would go, it would be rather accurate. She stunned Petra Kvitova in straight sets in the opening match of the tournament before going on to claim a fantastic three-set win over Karolina Pliskova and edged closer to qualifying for the semifinals.
Her third Round Robin match against Caroline Wozniacki was an all-or-nothing encounter. She was down a set and a break against the Dane and the situation was desperate for the Ukrainian. She needed just one set to seal her spot in the semifinals, and Svitolina went on to play one of the best sets of 2018 to grab the last qualification ticket before proceeding to snatch the victory.
Going up against Kiki Bertens in an all-underdog semifinal which no one would have expected, Svitolina had to battle past the stubborn Dutch in three titanic sets where the quality of tennis being displayed was immense. Moving into the biggest final of her career, Svitolina went down a set to Sloane Stephens and was struggling to deal with the American’s shots. Glimpses of her Montreal nightmare came, but this time she stayed focused and stormed to the victory, ending 2018 as the newly-crowned WTA Finals champion and the new owner of the Billie Jean King trophy.
Low Points of the Season
The North American hard-court swing was meant to be a perfect stretch for Svitolina to improve on her ranking, particularly when the court speed especially suited the Ukrainian. However, a shocking third-round exit came at the BNP Paribas Open to Carla Suarez Navarro before she crashed out in the quarterfinals to eventual finalist Jelena Ostapenko at the Miami Open.
Svitolina was tipped to have a strong clay-court season after all her successes on the surface in the previous years. The fourth-ranked 24-year-old led fellow top-10 player Caroline Garcia 7-6, 3-0 in the last eight of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, where she was making her first appearance, but ultimately failed to close out the win. (It is also noted that the Ukrainian fell to the Frenchwoman in three sets despite owning huge leads in their previous encounters at Beijing and Singapore)
Her woes continued at the Mutua Madrid Open as she was stunned by home favourite Carla Suarez Navarro, once again, in a thrilling three-setter which lasted close to three hours. Despite her struggles to go deep at the bigger tournaments, Svitolina maintained her ranking at the fourth position.
Always a low key figure at the Majors, Svitolina went into the French Open looking to break her Grand Slam voodoo but also being one of the favourites to hoist the trophy. She was unable to capitalise on her opportunity as a hard-hitting player managed to blow her off the court on a good day, with Svitolina coming off second best against 31st seed Mihaela Buzarnescu in straight sets.
In what could be her least-preferred surface, Svitolina struggled on grass as well. She was handed a one-sided 3-6, 2-6 loss by Mihaela Buzarnescu at the Nature Valley Classic before crashing out of Wimbledon in the opening round after a stunning loss to the unheralded Tatjana Maria.
Disappointing losses came at both the Western and Southern Open and the US Open. She crashed out in the quarterfinals in Cincinnati, falling to eventual champion and the surprise package in Kiki Bertens. Her hopes for a deep Major run ended in the hands of Anastasija Sevastova in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows, where she was bagelled in the final set which saw her claim just six points.
The Asian Swing was yet another disappointing stretch for Svitolina, whose Singapore spot was in jeopardy due to her struggles. She was given a tricky opening-round opponent at the Wuhan Open, and the Ukrainian was bested by eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka in three tough sets while her poor run continued when she blew a huge 6-0, 4-1 lead against Aleksandra Krunic in the first round of the China Open.
Competing in Hong Kong as the top seed, Svitolina looked to grab some confidence-boosting wins over several lower-ranked players and secure her place at the WTA Finals. However, she was outclassed by the in-form and red-hot Wang Qiang, who dominated the one-sided affair in straight sets.
Her place at the WTA Finals was only confirmed when both Kiki Bertens and Karolina Pliskova failed to reach the semifinals at the Kremlin Cup. Had the Dutchwoman and the Czech reached that stage together, Svitolina would not have gotten the chance to compete in Singapore.
Season Grade: A-
Had Svitolina not won the WTA Finals, it was difficult to grade her season anything above B. Her struggles in the second half of the season were manifested due to her lack of power to deal with the hard-hitting players and inability to handle the nerves on the biggest stages in tennis.
However, her success in Singapore elevated her entire 2018 as her run was just, way too impressive. The way she dealt with the nerves and pressure was outrageously professional and matured, and it felt like the Svitolina we saw in Singapore was a completely different person from whom we saw in, perhaps, Beijing.
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