ASB Classic: Elina Svitolina completes comeback win over Sonay Kartal for semi-final spot

Elina Svitolina will arrive at the ASB Classic semi-finals battle-tested.

On Friday night, the Ukrainian world No 13 ground her way past British world No 68 Sonay Kartal 6-4 6-7 (2) 7-6 (5), booking a spot in the last four against American Iva Jovic, the tournament’s third seed.

Svitolina came into the contest after a tough match against British wildcard Katie Boulter on Thursday night. After the win, Svitolina said she was happy to be back in fighting spirit. Against Kartal, she found herself there once more.

But when her back was against the ropes, Svitolina found a way in what turned out to be arguably the match of the tournament so far.

“As a first seed, everybody wants to beat you really badly and bring their best game,” she said after the match.

“I expect this when I go on the court. It’s not easy but I think it pushes me and pushes me to find the best way to win.”

Svitolina was not as accurate as she would have wanted to be in the first set, with Kartal extending games and challenging for break points. Both players were able to break one another in the opening set, with some good shot-making and patience to set points up, before Svitolina took it 6-4.

Kartal came out swinging in the second set though, playing confident shots and finding her spots. She was able to break Svitolina early and maintain that advantage to hold a 5-3 lead with a chance to serve for the set.

Instead, Svitolina got a crucial break before holding her own serve comfortably. The set stayed on serve from there to force a tiebreak – but Kartal regained the upper hand and took the set.

The Brit then made a great start to the decider, breaking the Svitolina serve before holding her own for a 2-0 lead.

It took until falling to 5-4 down and having Kartal serving for the match before Svitolina was able to break in the deciding set, but she found it at the most crucial time.

“I was fighting. I was really trying to stay and put good quality on the shots. Of course, it’s not easy to finish a match and close it with a serve. I tried to challenge her to do it, and that worked.”

While the match stayed on serve and another tiebreak was needed, Svitolina rose to the occasion to take the win.

It was a result that closed out a good day for the top-seeded players, No 3 seed Jovic, No 4 Alexandra Eala and No 7 Wang Xinyu all moving into the semi-finals.

Wang claimed a walkover victory over Britain’s Francesca Jones in the first match of the day, with Jones forced to retire from the match in the second set due to a leg injury.

Wang played a strong match in challenging conditions, with both the wind and the sun proving to be a factor in the day’s opener.

Jones first called for a medical timeout during the first set, but Wang said she didn’t notice when the initial injury might have occurred.

“She called a physio at the end of the first set, but I was busy adjusting to the sun. I saw her doing a few squats, but I don’t know exactly, when it happened,” Wang said.

“I hope she can recover fast for the Australian Open. She’s playing great, so I hope to see her in two weeks.”

Wang will meet Eala in the semi-finals today.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.