Elina Svitolina lost in her first grass-court match as a mother, when she was dominated by Linda Fruhvirtova at the 2023 Birmingham Classic.
Facing prodigies is never easy and the 18-year-old Czech is certainly one. Along with her sister Brenda, they were called the future of tennis by Marion Bartoli, and already as a teenager, Fruhvirtova has some big wins behind her belt.
On the other hand, Svitolina is coming back from a one-year break after pregnancy. However, her initial comeback was sensational. She won the title in Strasbourg and followed by an impressive performance in Paris, reaching the Roland Garros quarterfinals.
However, the Ukrainian wasn't able to follow up on her good clay-court season also on the grass as she met Fruhvirtova for the first time on the WTA Tour. The Czech teenager was on a four-match losing streak, but she was determined to change that with a change of surface.
And the start of the match was brilliant by the teenager. She broke her opponent's serve twice early on, and even though Svitolina was able to produce two holds of serve in the opening set, it wasn't enough to stop her opponent from winning 6-2.
In the second set, things went from bad to worse for the Ukrainian as Fruhvirtova totally dominated in every single game played. In the first five games, the Czech player lost only two points, and she lost only four points in the second set.
After a 20-minute set, and a total of 53 minutes, Fruhvirtova won the match 6-2, 6-0 to secure a second-round spot at the 2023 Birmingham Classic. In the next round, she will be facing the sixth-seeded Bernarda Pera and if she makes it to the quarterfinals, a possible all-Czech match between herself and the first-seeded Barbora Krejcikova may be played in Birmingham.
0 Comments