Photos – The Elina Svitolina Story

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Elina Svitolina (born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian tennis player.

Having turned professional in 2010, she reached her career-high ranking of world No. 3 on 11 September 2017.

Svitolina has won 13 WTA singles titles, her most significant coming at the 2018 WTA Finals, whilst winning three of five Premier 5-level tournaments in 2017, namely the Dubai Tennis Championships, the Italian Open, and the Canadian Open.

At the 2015 French Open, she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal where she was defeated by former champion Ana Ivanovic.

In February 2017, after winning the title in Dubai, Svitolina made history by becoming the first Ukrainian woman to break into the top 10 rankings.

In her career, Svitolina has scored victories over the likes of Grand Slam champions Ivanovic, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Angelique Kerber, Garbiñe Muguruza, Caroline Wozniacki, Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka, Petra Kvitová, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta and Sloane Stephens.

Her first top-10 win came over Kvitová in 2014 at the Cincinnati Open, where she would go on to reach her first semifinal at a Premier-5 tournament.

She also has six wins over a world No. 1 to her name, three over Kerber, two over Simona Halep and one over Serena Williams.

In doubles, Svitolina has won two titles, both at the İstanbul Cup, in 2014 and 2015.

Her career-high ranking in doubles play is world No. 108, which she reached on 4 May 2015.

Svitolina was born in Odessa to parents Mikhaylo Svitolin (a former wrestler) and Olena Svitolina (a former competitive rower).

She has an older brother named Yulian.

As a child, Elina noticed that her brother was getting a lot of attention because he was playing tennis.

This inspired her to take up the sport to regain some of the attention of her father.

She started playing tennis at the age of five.

Image Courtesy –  Elina Svitolina (Instagram)