Svitolina: I was a little ashamed because of my level, I tried to show the best tennis

Elina Svitolina summed up the match with Clara Burel in the semi-finals of the tournament in Strasbourg. The Ukrainian lost the first set, but managed to get a strong-willed victory.

“Definitely, it was a tough battle, Clara played very well. It was very difficult, I lost 1:4 in the second set, there were problems in the game, and you have to give credit to Clara, because she played a great match. I knew she was good at using cropped ones. I tried to get to every ball, but sometimes you just have to applaud your opponent for her skill and move on. I tried to win as many points as possible and eventually won,” said Svitolina.

“It took me a lot of effort to win this match. I had to fight and I left all my strength on the court. There were a lot of fans in the stands, so I tried to show good tennis. I was a little ashamed because of my level, I tried to raise it a little, to show the best tennis. I knew that the audience would cheer for Clara, but thank you for supporting me too.”

“How would I rate this match? For the fight, I would give myself a 10, and for the performance itself, given the unstable game, a solid 6. I hope that tomorrow my tennis will be better and you will cheer for me a little more. Of course, I’m glad to be in the final, especially in this tournament. I have played many tournaments in my career and I enjoyed playing here. I am grateful to the organizers that they provided me with a wild card and gave me the opportunity to return here. Now there is another final ahead, I will try to prepare and be ready to fight.”

In the final, Elina will play against Anna Blinkova. Recall that Svitolina won the tournament in Strasbourg in 2020.

This will be the first final for Svitolina since returning to the Tour and the first since August 2021, when she won the tournament in Chicago. In total, the Ukrainian has 16 WTA titles.