One of the more intriguing clashes on the women’s side of the draw on Day 2 is the match between Martina Trevisan and Elina Svitolina. The underrated Italian is defending semi final points but will have her work cut out against the former No.3, who looks to finally be finding her feet after returning from maternity leave two months ago. It will be the first meeting between the two with Trevisan’s rise up the rankings largely coinciding with Svitolina’s absence from the tour.
There will be extra concerns for Trevisan after she retired a set down in the quarter finals of Rabat last week. The Italian is an impressive clay courter and much improved over the past year with many of her recent losses coming in matches where she was sizable underdog.
Svitolina had struggled in the early stages of her comeback, losing three straight before a semi final in Saint Malo 125. A loss in Rome was followed by the first title in her comeback run, closing things out in Strasbourg with a straight sets win over Anna Blinkova. She improved further her stellar record in finals with her 17-3 record the best for any current player with 20 or more finals played. The key win for her came in the semi finals, fighting backing from a set and 1-4 down to defeat Clara Burel in three sets.
If the retirement was anything more than precautionary for Trevisan, it is going to be very tough for her to cope against an improving Svitolina. The edge and aggression that was often missing in her game has been found post-pregnancy but it will be about maintaining that consistency against tougher opponents. Her new coaching partnership with Raemon Sluiter does look to be working wonders and there is a spot for someone to make a run in this section of the draw thanks to Caroline Garcia’s current drop in form.
Prediction – Elina Svitolina in three sets
