Elina Svitolina survives major upset after battling past Anna Bondar at Roland Garros

[p]A month after she was knocked ‌out of the Madrid Open in straight sets ‌by the Hungarian, Ukrainian seventh seed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/monfils-elina/jyngIesG/"]Svitolina[/a] could ‌not find her range on the Suzanne Lenglen Court, falling apart in the opening set after ‌cancelling out an early break.[/p][p]Svitolina, however, ⁠bounced back in ‌the second but it was not as easy as ​the 6-1 scoreline suggested.[/p][p]The 31-year-old fell 3-1 behind in the decider but ​clawed her way back and broke decisively for 4-3.[/p][p]Serving for the match at 5-4, she ⁠was broken to ​love, losing eight points in a row to find herself trailing 6-5.[/p][embed guid="1b84cb9d-7406-44f7-9787-b9515be1feef" url="https://x.com/WTA/status/2058919306587492845" social-type="twitter" /][p]She held serve to force a super tiebreak, during which her opponent ‌eventually unravelled.[/p][p][b]“Definitely the support of you guys has been unbelievable, this kind of battle is never easy. It was an amazing match, I’m pleased with my performance,”[/b] said Rome champion Svitolina, who has now played four consecutive three-set matches.[/p][p]“A first round like this puts you right on track. Mental strength took me ‌over the line, as well as my physical ​condition.”[/p][p]Svitolina is expected to sit in the ‌Philippe Chatrier Court stands later on Monday when her husband, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/monfils-gael/fm7G8o0m/"]Gael Monfils[/a], starts his final French Open campaign against fellow Frenchman [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gaston-hugo/hGqnSub7/"]Hugo Gaston[/a].[/p][p][b]“I will tell him to enjoy ⁠it. He always ⁠brings the best ‌show,”[/b] she said.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/bondar-a-O8s9yjMD/svitolina-e-jyngIesG/?mid=QadwetaL"]Check out the match stats here[/a][/b].[/p]