Elina Svitolina saved three match points and came back to eliminate 2024 runner-up Jasmine Paolini 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1 on Sunday and earn her fifth French Open quarterfinal appearance.
The 13th-seeded Svitolina, who is from Ukraine, is a three-time Grand Slam semifinalist — getting that far twice at Wimbledon and once at the US Open — but she is 0-4 in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
She will try to go a step further Tuesday, when she will face three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek, who trailed by a set and a break before eliminating 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 at Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The other quarterfinal on the top half of the women’s bracket will be No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka against No. 8 Zheng Qinwen. Sabalenka, a three-time major champion, used a five-game run to take control from 5-all in the first set and eliminated No. 16 Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. 7-5, 6-3, while 2024 Olympic gold medalist Zheng was a 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-3 winner over No. 19 Liudmila Samsonova.
The No. 4-seeded Paolini entered Sunday on a career-best nine-match winning streak, including a run to the title on red clay at the Italian Open.
A year ago, she reached her first major final at the French Open, losing to Swiatek, then made it to the championship match at Wimbledon, where she lost to Barbora Krejcikova.
Against Svitolina, Paolini served for the victory while leading by a set and a break at 5-3 in the second. But the Italian got broken at 15 there. She then held her first two match points while ahead 5-4, 15-40 as Svitolina served.
Paolini missed a forehand on the initial chance to end things and a backhand on the next.
In the ensuing tiebreaker, Paolini once again was a single point from winning and once again failed to come through, this time when Svitolina ended a 14-stroke exchange with a volley winner.
From there, Svitolina was in control, racing to a 4-0 lead in the third set. She is quite comfortable on clay, where she has earned a tour-leading 16 of her 27 wins this season.
“I still can’t believe this match finished my way. My head is still in it, in a big battle,” Svitolina said. “Jasmine was playing really well, and it was really tough. In the end, I’m happy I could stay composed and fight ’til the very end. Here I am in the next round.”
The plight of her war-torn country following Russia’s 2022 invasion was firmly on Svitolina’s mind as she reflected on her victory in a news conference, saying she had to live with difficult news almost daily.
“The last few months have been really tough for Ukrainian people, and the last few weeks have been awful,” said Svitolina, who has raised $1 million for her people in the past few years. “It’s something that all Ukrainians live with on a daily basis, with the bad news. So when I’m on the court, I’m fully focused on my job, on my tennis, and try to get these wins to keep the Ukrainian flag flying for my country.
“That’s what motivates me to keep pushing, keep winning, keep playing tennis in general. It’s heavy, but in the same way it’s a huge motivation for me.”
Svitolina also defeated Paolini at the Australian Open in January.
Swiatek looked out of sorts as she trailed 6-1, 2-0, leaving the crowd stunned, but Swiatek found her groove and some grit to prevail.
“In the first set, with her playing like that, I felt I did not have a single chance,” said Swiatek, who had lost to Rybakina in their two previous encounters on clay. “Using the top spin was the plan from the beginning, but I did not feel she gave me the space to do that. But I’m happy that I was patient enough to stay in the game and use any opportunity that came to me.”
The win continued Swiatek’s quest for four straight French Open titles. The only women to win the singles at Roland Garros in four straight years were Jeanne Matthey from 1909 to 1912 and Suzanne Lenglen from 1920 to 1923, when only French players competed.
Sabalenka is now the first player to reach the quarterfinals in 10 consecutive Grand Slams since Serena Williams between 2014 and 2017. Sabalenka has more straight-sets wins this year (33) than any other player has tour wins.
“I am super hungry for this tournament. I want to stay until the very last day,” she said.
Four U.S. women will be in action in the fourth round Monday: No. 2 Coco Gauff vs. No. 20 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, No. 3 Jessica Pegula vs. Lois Boisson of France, and No. 7 Madison Keys vs. Hailey Baptiste in an all-American matchup.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
