Elina Svitolina came into her fourth-round match against qualifier Petra Martic knowing that everyone remaining in the draw was on equal footing—a maiden major title is one of theirs for the taking.
Perhaps that explains the fifth seed's slow start against the 290th-ranked player in the world, Petra Martic, and a finish that was much too close for comfort. Martic, a 26-year-old from Croatia, recently returned to action after 10 injury-affected months away from the game. Her French Open prep consisted of ITF-level tournaments in Italy and Tunisia—where she posted a 13-2 record.
Meanwhile, Svitolina's star has been on a rapid rise ever since her upset of Serena Williams at last summer's Olympic Games. She closed 2016 with runs to the New Haven final, Tokyo semifinals, Beijing semifinals, Moscow semifinals and the final of the season-ending tournament in Zhuhai. This season has only been more impressive: the 22-year-old Ukranian has won four titles, in Taipei City, Dubai, Istanbul and Rome, where she ousted Top 10 players Karolina Pliskova, Garbine Muguruza and Simona Halep.
And yet, none of that seemed to matter on Monday, when Martic took a 5-2 lead against Svitolina in the third and deciding set. She even got to 0-30 on Svitolina's serve.
And yet—none of that mattered in the end. For Svitolina won 20 of the next 24 points to complete a stunning, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 comeback: