Elina Svitolina meets Ajla Tomljanovic in the second round of Tokyo 2020 on Monday, July 26th, 2021.
Will Ajla Tomljanovic get a big win under her belt to get herself into the third round and keep the momentum going which she built in Wimbledon this month, or will Elina Svitolina be able to find the form which we have been waiting to see from her for the last year or so?
Ajla Tomjanovic did not have to play a full match in the first round because Yaroslava Shvedova had to retire when she was 7-5/3-2 down with an injury. Ajla Tomljanovic knows that she can be one of the best players recently because she went really far in Wimbledon. Ajla will know that although she has been in form, it is also never an easy road ahead in the WTA Tour because players lose and gain momentum quite quickly, especially in the first few tournaments on a new surface. Can she go far here in Tokyo?
Elina Svitolina is just not showing us the tennis that we expect from her. Elina did win her first round match against Laura Siegemund, winning in 3 sets 6-3/5-7/6-3, but she should never be playing such a tight match against someone who is not in form. Elina needs to find a boost of confidence because I don’t understand how she is ranked soo highly, but over the last year or two, she has not been able to get anything going her way, reaching the quarter finals of tournaments but then falling short when she should really get herself into the finals consistently.
This is going to be the 4th meeting between both players, with Elina Svitolina having won all of their prior encounters. I expect this to be a tight match because Elina has won all of her matches against Ajla before so she will have the confidence, and Ajla will be confident with the game she has played over the last month. I see Ajla being able to get the match under her belt and getting the upset going because if Elina struggles against Laura Siegemund, how is she going to be able to win against someone who has been in better form than her over the last month.