By Nate Chura | Tuesday, March 6, 2018
On a night when Serena Williams and Marion Bartoli launched comebacks, Elina Svitolina stole the show at Madison Square Garden.
Photo credit: @Brisbane Tennis
Tennis took center stage in New York last night at Madison Square Garden for the American debut of Tie Break Tens.
The blockbuster tiebreak tournament featured some of the biggest names in women's tennis, including Serena Williams, Venus Williams, CoCo Vandeweghe, and Marion Bartoli, competing for a winner-take-all pot of $250,000.
Watch: Serena, Bartoli Launch Comebacks
But at the end of the night it was Elina Svitolina and Zhang Shuai who stole the spotlight.
In just over two and a half hours, Svitolina was declared the undisputed queen of the Tiebreak, after defeating Chinese tennis star Zhang Shuai, 10-3, in the final.
The format for Tie Break Tens is novel and, judging by the reactions from the crowd, appeared to go over well in the Big Apple.
The tournament consisted of three rounds of 10-point tiebreak matches, so there was no margin for a slow start, which did not favor Venus Williams on this occasion. The seven-time Grand Slam singles champ was knocked out in the first round by Svitolina.
The evening was also a bust for 2013 Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli, who is looking to make a comeback on the WTA tour. Bartoli was bumped in the first round by Serena Williams, who is making a comeback of her own, after giving birth to Alexis Olympia Ohanian last fall.
The high drama of the evening came in the semifinals. After Svitolina closed out Vandeweghe in the first semi, 10-0, in the blink of an eye, Serena took the stage again, this time against world no. 32 Zhang Shuai.
Williams, who played an exhibition earlier this year against Jelena Ostapenko and teamed up with her sister Venus for a dead doubles rubber in the first round of Fed Cup last month, delivered her best performance since returning to competition. Her serve was on. She moved around the court well, with improved balance and agility, and off the ground appeared in command many extended rallies.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion forced Zhang to win the match by two, and even had a chance to take the lead with an easy forehand, swing volley, but ultimately netted the easy put-away and fell to Zhang, 13-11.
After that semifinal, the championship match was anticlimactic. It was Svitolina's night. She dropped just three points to Zhang on her way to claiming the title, and the champion's check.
Next up, the women's field will head to Indian Wells for the first combined men's and women's event of the year in the United States.
Tennis Now contributing writer Nate Chura is a playwright and tennis coach based in Brooklyn.