Elina Svitolina has had quite the end to the year, both on the court and off it. She and her husband, Gael Monfils, are going through a fairly public divorce, and that alone might make playing tennis difficult.
Still, the Ukrainian's issue against Karolina Muchova in the WTA Finals on Wednesday had little to do with Svitolina's mental state, and lots to do with her physical form. She struggled to land her serve in the first set, and Muchova took full advantage, breaking Svitolina three times on her way to winning the set 6-3.
Svitolina landed just 47 percent of her first serves, and then won only 35 percent of her second serves. She did a decent job of returning Muchova's serve, but the damage was done. This was the case even though Muchova was far from perfect, with two aces in the opening set but five double faults.
Elina Svitolina comes from behind to defeat Karolina Muchova at the WTA Finals
At the end of the set, though, Svitolina needed a medical timeout while she had her right leg looked at. Maybe she just needed to regroup mentally, because after the leg was taped, she appeared to move just fine at the beginning of the second set. She also began striking her serve better and held a bit more easily at the start.
At 2-all, she was able to get a break and took the lead in a set for the first time in the match. Whether she could keep holding was a different question, of course, but she at least had put herself in a position to have a chance to even the match and potentially reset her standing at the WTA Finals.
As the third set wore on, it was Muchova who was struggling with her serve while Svitolina improved her groundstrokes, landing far more winners than unforced errors. The turnaround in the narrative of the match had to leave Muchova asking questions for which she seemingly had no answers.
Anyone who had watched the first set and then tuned out of the match might have been surprised to come back to it and see Svitolina leading. Therein lies part of what makes tennis great, though: Matches can twist and turn, and that makes an entire match watchable.
The third set was closing on Muchova quickly, however. Svitolina got another break to lead 5-2, and then served out the match 6-2.
The two players have one more round-robin match to play at the WTA Finals on Friday. Elina Svitolina will play Aryna Sabalenka, and Karolina Muchova will play Mirra Andreeva.
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