In a hard-fought match, Elina Svitolina kept her cool in the end.
World No. 10 Elina Svitolina celebrated her first victory in Rome since 2018 just before the start of the French Open. At the warm-up tournament for the next major highlight of the season (starting May 24), the 31-year-old Ukrainian defeated Coco Gauff, the defending champion in Paris, in a high-level match with a score of 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2—for the world No. 4, this marks her third loss to Svitolina this year.
For the American, however, the loss at the clay-court tournament isn’t necessarily a bad omen: Last year, too, the 22-year-old missed out on the title in Italy’s capital—only to lift the trophy at Roland Garros about three weeks later, for just the second time on clay.
After a long wait for the match to begin due to heavy rain, Gauff actually got off to the better start. The two-time Grand Slam champion broke serve in the very first game, and as the match progressed, both players initially traded blows on equal terms.
With the score at 4-2 in Gauff’s favor, Svitolina took control after a long battle to hold her own serve and secured four consecutive games. In the second set, Gauff fought her way back—but in the following set, Svitolina once again dominated, controlling her opponent almost at will.
After 2 hours and 49 minutes, the Ukrainian converted her third match point to claim her third title in Rome and her 20th career title on the Tour.
