In an impressive display of skill and resilience, Elina Svitolina clinched the Internationaux de Strasbourg title less than two months after making her comeback from pregnancy, reaffirming her dominance in the tournament she had previously won in 2020.
In the first round against Louisa Chirico, Svitolina recorded her first Tour-level win since becoming a mom. The Ukrainian then went on to defeat Erin Routliffe, Varvara Gracheva, and Clara Burel, before capping the successful week with a 6-2 6-3 victory over 66th-ranked Anna Blinkova in the final.
In Saturday’s title match, the former world No.3 Svitolina, who now wears Paka instead of Nike, swiftly surged to a commanding double break lead of 3-0. Although Blinkova managed to earn one break back, Svitolina quickly regained control by breaking her opponent once more later in the first set, ultimately securing it with unwavering confidence.
As the second set began, the statistics were favoring the new mom, as she had maintained an impressive record of 13-0 in final matches when she emerged victorious in the first set.
The 28-year-old Svitolina, whose ranking is now down to No.508, also built a double-break 3-0 lead in the second set, but this time only after fighting off three break points in an extremely long service game that included 11 deuces. Soon afterwards Svitolina did drop serve twice, but she also did damage to Blinkova and ultimately triumphed in straight sets.
The WTA 250 tournament in Strasbourg is Svitolina’s 17th career title and first since Chicago 2021. This is a big confidence boost as she’s heading to Roland Garros where her first-round opponent will be seed No.26 Martina Trevisan of Italy.
