Elina Svitolina continues to progress.
After ending her 2025 campaign early, opting to take some time away from tournament tennis in September, this week’s ASB Classic was the 31-year-old world No 13’s return to the WTA scene.
Despite being away from the game for a few months, the Ukrainian came into the event as the top seed and, as she put it earlier in the week, the person everyone else badly wanted to beat.
Four have tried and failed so far.
After being pushed to the depths in her quarter-final against Britain’s Sonay Kartal on Friday night, Svitolina made much easier work of third-seeded American Iva Jovic, claiming a 7-5 (5) 6-2 win in 90 minutes to punch her ticket into the final against seventh seed Wang Xinyu of China.
“It means the world to me,” Svitolina said of reaching the final in her first tournament back.
“I’m very happy I chose this particular tournament to start the year because, of course, after the break, after the preseason, after a lot of training, you want to get a couple of matches, you want to test yourself and to give yourself the best chance to perform again well.
“I’m very happy because I’ve had tough matches...just very happy the way that I’ve been handling myself and handling the pressure and the fatigue even. Because yesterday was not an easy match physically.
“Today I tried to really stick to my plan and be focused on every point.”
Sunday’s final will be Svitolina’s second on the courts of Auckland, after finishing runner-up to Coco Gauff in three sets in the 2024 decider.
That was an experience Svitolina said she learnt from and was hopeful that experience would benefit her against Wang.
“It was a really painful one, because I won the first set...hopefully it’s going to give me this push tomorrow.”
Svitolina hasn’t been afraid to play from behind in this tournament and showed that again in the first set.
Jovic broke the Ukrainian immediately – twice – to hold a 3-0 lead in the first three games. Svitolina found her way into the match with a convincing break of her own before holding serve to close in a 3-2; winning eight-straight points to win both games to love.
The Ukrainian eventually levelled at 4-4, before back-to-back broken games and a hold of serve each saw her in her third-straight tiebreak after two to close out her quarter-final escape.
The top seed looked dominant early in the tiebreak to quickly earn set points. While the 18-year-old American fought back to save five set points, Svitolina eventually wrapped it up.
“Very happy with the fighting spirit that I’ve been showing throughout the tournament. I feel like I’ve been missing it a little bit at the end of the last year and now I feel refreshed.
“I feel now again ready to fight, again ready to face these difficult moments because sometimes players can play really well, execute very well, but it’s all about staying in the match and trying to get better within the match.”
The second set saw Svitolina in imposing form after both players began the set with a hold of serve. The Ukrainian then took the next four games, holding Jovic to just six points across them, before closing out the match with a 6-2 second set.
“I think I executed my game plan better than in the first set That’s why I think I played better and the scoreline is easier a little bit,” Svitolina said.
“But I think also for her it was difficult to keep going. I think she’s still very, very young, and I’m sure she’s going to, with a couple of years’ time, she will perform unbelievable and we’re going to see many more titles from her [in the] coming years.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.