In the kind of testing conditions that make Roland Garros unique among the majors, Elina Svitolina charted a course through wind, rain and swirling red dust to subdue a spirited challenge from local favourite Alizé Cornet and reach the first grand slam quarter-final of her career 6-2, 7-6 (11-9).
Svitolina, at 20 the youngest woman left in the women’s draw, showed courage, maturity and no little skill to see off Cornet, a Frenchwoman who won the junior title in 2007 and has been the darling of the Bois de Boulogne ever since gracing the front cover of L’Equipe as a teenager.
It was a measure of the regard in which the French No1 is held that even her vociferous protests over a line call that went against her as she faced a break point at 5-5 in the second set drew no more than the odd jeer from the famously testy Court Philippe Chatrier crowd.
The perceived injustice was addressed when Svitolina was broken in the next game, but she too has lifted the junior title at Roland Garros, and she refused to be bowed. On this evidence the 19th seed should go a long way.
A contest of simmering passion and no little intensity turned on an attritional second set in which Cornet, likewise bidding to claim a last-eight berth at a slam for the first time, repeatedly pegged back the Ukrainian.
It all came down to a dramatic tie-break that offered a miniature snapshot of the one hour and 55-minute whole, Cornet clawing her way back from two match points down to hold a set point at 7-6, only for Svitolina to hold her nerve and edge ahead once more. Five match points the Ukrainian held, only to be denied each time by the courageous shot-making of an opponent who refused to accept she was beaten.
Something had to give and, when Cornet sent a backhand long at 10-9 in Svitolina’s favour, the Ukrainian was finally home and dry – or, at least, as dry as one could hope to be on a rain-sodden afternoon in Paris that saw the scheduled morning start delayed.
Svitolina will next face Ana Ivanovic, who came through in three sets against the Muscovite Ekaterina Makarova over on Court Suzanne Lenglen, winning 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.
Makerova, a semi-finalist at both the US and Australian Opens, struck back impressively after falling behind, but Ivanovic, the 2008 champion, ended the third set just as she had the first, slamming a forehand winner to become the first woman through to the last eight.
