In a rematch of last year's semifinal, French hope Clara Burel stunned defending champion and No.7 seed Elina Svitolina 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-1 in the second round of the Internationaux de Strasbourg on Wednesday.
Burel, currently ranked a career-high World No.43, took 2 hours and 15 minutes to post the home-soil upset, avenging her three-set loss to Svitolina in the previous year.
Former top-ranked junior Burel continues to frequently challenge the top players in 2024. The 23-year-old ousted No.5 Jessica Pegula at this year's Australian Open for her first career Top 20 win, and she nearly defeated No.3 Coco Gauff at Indian Wells as well.
Burel's second career Top 20 win ends Svitolina's winning streak at Strasbourg. World No.17 Svitolina had won nine matches in a row at the tournament, clinching the title in each of her last two appearances, in 2020 and 2023.
On Wednesday, Burel held a set point at 5-4 in the first set, but Svitolina held on, then broke Burel at love to lead 6-5. However, Svitolina could not serve out the set, and Burel rolled through the tiebreak to take the one-set lead after 56 minutes.
Burel's first double fault of the day came when she was down set point in the second set, and with that, Svitolina tied up the match at one set apiece. But Burel was dominant in the forecourt during the third set, sweeping to victory in front of an excited home crowd.
Collins cruises into quarterfinals: Burel will have to face another Top 20 player in the quarterfinals: No.3 seed Danielle Collins, who eased past Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 6-2 in just 64 minutes in the late match. It will be the first meeting between Burel and Collins.
In her announced last season on tour, World No.12 Collins remains one of the form players this spring. Collins has won 20 of her last 22 matches, starting that stretch with back-to-back titles at Miami and Charleston. Her only two losses in that run have come to World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka at Madrid and Rome.
World No.34 Siniakova had won seven of her last eight matches as well, but she became the latest player to be halted by Collins. On Wednesday, Collins was nearly as successful behind her second serve as she was on her first serve, and she broke Siniakova four times.
Collins faced only four break points all day, which all came during a critical game at 2-1 in the second set. Collins got out of that jam and raced home from there, improving her head-to-head against Siniakova to 3-1.
