Elina Svitolina had a rough time on the courts in recent weeks, but she finally snapped out of it and won a match again at the 2024 Charleston Open.
The Ukrainian returned to Charleston, which is a pretty special place for her because it's where she got a really warm welcome last year and a lot of support for her Ukrainian cause.
She certainly looked comfortable in this match as well, cruising past a pretty solid player in Daria Saville, who fought bravely but ultimately didn't have enough. Svitolina is generally a pretty strong clay performer, even though the court in Charleston isn't a typical clay court.
She demonstrated a lot more comfort during the match than Saville, who generally has some issues on the surface. In the first set, Svitolina really didn't have any issues cruising easily through the games.
The final score was 6-2 for her, and it was mostly due to her very aggressive play on return. Charleston gives her a chance to really play attacking tennis, and Svitolina took advantage of that.
She had some minor issues with her serve, getting broken twice, but it didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things because she played so well on return. The second set was a bit more tricky because Saville was pretty stable to start.
Svitolina did take an early break to make it 2-0, but the Australian player countered to make it 2-2. Still, it was just a better level from Svitolina, who jumped out to another lead, 4-2.
Nothing really disturbed her as she cruised to the finish line, with the final score being 6-2 6-4. It was just a pretty sturdy performance from the Ukrainian, who looks really strong here and will certainly be a contender for a deep run if she keeps playing the way she played in this match.