The 2024 Paris Olympics continues at Roland Garros with Jessica Pegula up against Elina Svitolina. Damien Kayat previews.
2024 Olympic Games
Paris Olympics
Roland Garros
Selected 2nd round matches 30 July
Jessica Pegula 92/100 | Elina Svitolina 86/100
Jessica Pegula
This should be an exhilarating contest between two of the best female players who are yet to taste Grand Slam glory. 5th seeded American Jessica Pegula has endured a somewhat turbulent campaign. A regular fixture in the top ten in recent seasons, Pegula hasn’t quite been at her effervescent best this year.
She underwent a coaching shakeup towards the beginning of the season and it took some time for her to regain her consistency. She was also forced to withdraw from the French Open due to neck and back issues.
She won her fifth WTA Tour title in Berlin but then she was unceremoniously dumped out of the 2nd round at SW19. Pegula has started to develop a reputation for lacking the killer edge in crunch games (she has been defeated in six consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals).
But there is no doubting the fact that Pegula has what it takes to thrive on clay. She really came into her own on the sticky stuff back in 2022, reaching a French Open quarter-final to go with her runner-up finish at the Madrid Open.
She reached the semifinals in Charleston earlier this year but was forced to miss the majority of the clay-court swing due to the aforementioned wrist and neck issues.
Her opening-round victory over Viktorija Golubic actually improved her 2024 clay-court record to 4-1. She started sluggishly against the Swiss, trailing 1-3 in the first set behind some poor service games. But she clicked into gear from that point on, winning 11 of the next 15 games to win in straight sets.
Elina Svitolina
A bronze medallist at the Tokyo Olympics, Elina Svitolina is a woman on a mission this year. She has been a real ambassador for the Ukrainian cause these past few years and she will be desperate to bring home a medal for her war-torn nation (especially in light of recent events).
The Ukrainian returned to action last season after an extended pregnancy hiatus. And she performed brilliantly, reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open before a stunning semifinal run at SW19. She has enjoyed some consistent success at Grand Slam level this season and is fresh off another quarterfinal run at Wimbledon.
But her form has been slightly more erratic as a whole. I think this was always likely to happen. A defensive baseliner by nature, Svitolina has looked to play more aggressively since returning to competitive action. And I think there’s always a chance of fluctuations in form when you change your approach so pointedly.
Svitolina looked completely unfazed in her opening match, taking down hapless Japanese Moyuka Uchijima 6-2, 6-1. It was a routine win against a player she really had to beat. Still, she did it with ease and she knows she has it in her to surprise the American.
Svitolina has a far better clay-court pedigree than Pegula, reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open on four occasions. She has two Rome titles and two Strasbourg titles and she will feel completely comfortable out there.
She loves getting engaged in extended rallies and she has a habit of creating magnificent crosscourt angles in these slower surfaces. However, she is going to need to overcome a serious head-to-head disparity to overcome the billionaire heiress from Buffalo.
The Verdict: Pegula to win in straight sets 19/10
The American leads the head-to-head 4-1 (winning their last four consecutive matches). Svitolina will feel emboldened by the fact that this will be their first-ever meeting on a clay court.
The American’s flat-hitting style can become a tad one-dimensional on these surfaces and she won’t have the same penetration that she has on hard-courts.
That being said, I think Pegula has the mental edge over Svitolina. Pegula really grew into that match against Golubic, hitting with remarkable depth and consistency. I think she will be able to dictate proceedings if she gets an early lead.
