One more lost set and Elina Svitolina would have been packing her bags in Indian Wells. Beaten by Mirra Andreeva in her opening group match, the Ukrainian dropped the first set to Karolina Muchova on Wednesday and needed an eight-minute medical time-out along the way. Instead of folding, she dropped only four more games, won in three sets and kept her semi-final hopes alive.
Muchova had dictated the early exchanges with the variety she is known for, mixing drop shots, slices and trips to the net. Svitolina was rushing and the mistakes piled up. From the second set she settled behind the baseline and the Czech’s rhythm faded; Muchova finished with eight double faults, while Svitolina struck 17 of her 22 winners over the last two sets.
Svitolina was frank afterwards. She admitted she had been angry with herself after the first match and the first set, and said she tried to direct that anger into the ball. With the season almost over, she added, everyone is carrying small injuries, and her plan for the next 48 hours was simple: an ice bath and as much healing as possible.
The defeat ended a remarkable record for Muchova, who had won all 32 of her matches this season after taking the opening set. With Andreeva then beating Aryna Sabalenka, the Czech is out of contention.
The victory was her first at the season-ending championships since 2019, when she reached the final. On Friday she meets Sabalenka with the last semi-final place in the group at stake, a straight shootout against a world No 2 who is coming off a heavy loss of her own.
