Elina Svitolina has quietly been putting together an incredible clay-court run in the last three weeks and it has become impossible not to notice.
The former world No.3 has won her last 11 consecutive matches, and last 22 sets in a row, and is now into the Mutua Madrid Open semi-finals for the first time in 10 main draw appearances.
The first Ukrainian woman to reach the final four at the Caja Magica, Svitolina backed up her title triumph in Rouen from 10 days ago by notching straight-sets win over Sonay Kartal, 10th-seeded Elena Rybakina, former world No.3 Maria Sakkari, and finally surprise package Moyuka Uchijima on Wednesday.
She has dropped, on average, a mere 5.7 games per match during this undefeated stretch and will prove a mighty opponent for Aryna Sabalenka in Thursday’s semi-finals.
“It’s been a good tournament for me. Finally, I’m happy to play well here in Madrid, really enjoying playing on those courts. It’s such a nice court. The clay court is so smooth. It’s perfect. So, yeah, just enjoying it,” said Svitolina, who never made it past the second round in any of her previous nine showings in Madrid.
Svitolina underwent foot surgery for a lingering injury last September, and has impressed upon return, reaching the quarter-finals at the Australian Open and her win-loss record for 2025 currently stands at 20-6.
The 30-year-old admits she had no expectations entering this clay season and just wanted to focus on staying healthy.
Her run started with two wins that helped Ukraine qualify for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, before she lifted the trophy in Rouen.
Svitolina has been managing the Ukrainian national tennis team, and is sponsoring it through her foundation, taking it upon herself to keep the sport going during the ongoing war.
“It’s of course a lot of pressure to have to take care of the national team. But I try to really have a good team around me, the foundation team, and also the team that we have right now, the captain, the coach, the manager, it’s all the people that are really taking care of the team. Because obviously me, I’m still playing, and it would be like a clash of interest for me to be really taking care of everything,” she explained.
“Of course I’m proud of the effort that we put to qualify for the Finals in September in China. It’s a good effort that we did.
“And, yeah, from the foundation team, they are doing a lot for us to feel comfortable, because it’s not easy. It’s not easy when you are hosting matches, when you have to do a lot of little stuff that takes a lot of time. I’m really proud of the team that we all came together for the result to be in the Finals.”
Svitolina is a mother to three-year-old daughter Skai, is working hard with her foundation, and is also a top-20 professional tennis player – how does she possibly do it all?
“I have a lot on my plate, but I draw energy and motivation from my people,” she says.
“When I go back to Ukraine, I just get so much energy from all the people that are right now over there having a tough time. I’m just trying to keep it up and bring some wins for Ukraine.”
Last summer, Svitolina re-hired British coach Andrew Bettles, who spent five years working with her before they parted ways in 2021.
The pair seamlessly transitioned back to being a team and the work they’ve been putting together is clearly paying off.
“Of course we have a lot of great memories, a lot of tough moments as well that we went through together,” said Svitolina, reflecting on their first stint together.
“To be fair, when we stopped it was nothing really, like we didn’t have any argument, it just was I wanted to try something different. So at that stage of my career, why not?
“Three years later, when I stopped with Raemon (Sluiter), I was looking for someone, of course, that I know little bit. And as I found out that Andy also was stopping with Jil (Teichmann), the timing was just perfect. Because in the middle of the season it’s not easy to switch the coach, so everything just fell into place at that time.
“I’m very happy. It’s like we’d never been apart. I feel like we have our routine, and we see things the same way, the things that I have to improve and things that we want to work on.”
Looking ahead, Svitolina can draw confidence from her strong clay credentials, having won Rome twice, and having made the Roland Garros quarter-finals on four separate occasions.
She awaits top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals, and the goal is simple: she wants to keep winning. “That’s what I’m hoping for. But also I try to really be realistic. I know that I can play really well, but still a lot of work ahead of me. I have a tough challenge in the semi-final,” she added.
“I try to not focus too much on the numbers because sometimes they can be disturbing, but of course everyone and every conversation is mentioning that (the winning streak). But, for me, it’s important to find again my game every time I step on the court for every match.
“So far everything has been working well, I could move well, I could focus, refocus on some tough moments. I’m happy so far and of course this, I take it as a confidence. I draw the confidence from all these statistics that I have.”
