Svitolina takes out fifth seed Pegula in first big shock of women’s event at Olympics

Elina Svitolina had one of her proudest moments on a tennis court – if not the proudest – when she won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

And there’s something about playing for her country that brings out the best in her for the Ukrainian caused the first really big surprise of the women’s event at the Paris Olympics when she beat fifth seed Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the second round on Monday. She’ll meet the Wimbledon champion, Barbora Krejcikova in the last 16.

Svitolina let slip a tight first set to the American but bounced back brilliantly, racing through the second set and then gaining an early break at the start of the decider.

Pegula, who missed Roland-Garros because of illness and injury and who lost early at Wimbledon, made some uncharacteristic errors, but many of them forced by Svitolina, who upped her intensity as the match wore on.

Svitolina held serve comfortably to 5-3 and then broke Pegula for a second time in the set to clinch a well-deserved victory.

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