Elena Rybakina vs Elina Svitolina Odds & Prediction – Olympic Women’s Tennis Bronze Medal Game
By Robert Duff in Tennis
Published:
- Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina is a -140 favorite over Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the Olympic women’s tennis singles bronze medal match on Saturday, July 31
- The players have split two previous meetings
- Neither player’s country has ever won an Olympic tennis medal
Is there a more difficult emotional challenge in sport than the bronze-medal game? Dealing with the heartbreak of losing their chance at a golden moment, players must rally and battle for the chance to proclaim that they’re #3.
That’s the task facing Elina Svitolina and Elena Rybakina. Both lost their semifinal matches on Thursday at the Tokyo Summer Games.
Ukraine’s Svitolina fell in straight sets to Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic. Rybakina dropped a three-set marathon to Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic.
Oddsmakers are going with the lower-ranked player to win the bronze medal. World #20 Rybakina is the -140 favorite over world #6 Svitolina.
Elena Rybakina vs Elina Svitolina Odds
| Player | Moneyline | Spread | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elena Rybakina | -140 | -1.5 (+150) | O 20.5 (-150) |
| Elina Svitolina | +115 | +1.5 (-255) | U 20.5 (+110) |
Odds as of July 29 at DraftKings
Saturday’s match is slated for a 3:00 am ET start.
Rybakina’s Missed Opportunity
One of the challenges that Rybakina must quickly put behind her is to not ponder long on the chance she let slip through her grasp to play for the gold medal. Rybakina fell 6-7(2-7), 6-4, 3-6 to Bencic.
In the first set against Bencic, who she was facing for the first time, Rybakina raced to a 5-2 lead. She got to set point six times but couldn’t convert for the win. Rybakina ended up losing a tiebreaker 7-2 and dropping the set.
Undaunted, Rybakina came charging back. She won the second set 6-4 and quickly jumped in front 2-0 in the third set.
Bencic battled back to 3-3 and won the final four games of the grueling match that took two hours and 44 minutes to complete.
Svitolina Still Not Semi Tough
This was the third time in her career that Svitolina has reached the semifinal stage of a Grand Slam event or Olympic competition. She’s now 0-3 in those matches, unable to get over the hump and into a major final.
Like Ryakina, Svitolina let an early advantage escape her grasp. The Ukrainian player was up 3-1 on Vondrousova in the first set. From that point onward, it was all Vondrousova. She won 6-3, 6-1.
She’d beaten Svitolina easily by a 6-3, 6-0 count in the 2020 Rome quarterfinals and history would repeat itself. Vondrousova took complete control of the match. She utilized her versatile array of shotmaking skills to keep Svitolina off balance.
https://youtu.be/BwW6lYY5Q70
Svitolina is generally a strong first-service player. She is winning 64.6% of her service games this season. However, that aspect of her game eluded her against Vondrousova. Svitolina landed just 47% of her first serves in the first set. She showed a 56% success rate on first service in the second set.
She fell behind 0-3 in the second set and never offered any suggestion of climbing back into the match. Svitolina committed 29 unforced errors against just 13 winners during the match.
Even Steven
Rybakina and Svitolina have met twice but this will be their first clash on a hard court surface. They’ve played five sets against each other and there’s been little to choose between the two players. Rybakina has won three of those sets, albeit one via tiebreaker.
Marketa Vondrousova is into the Gold Medal Match.
The 2019 Roland Garros finalist defeats Elina Svitolina 63 61 and will face Belinda Bencic for gold.
For the second consecutive #Olympics, the Czech Republic will have a spot on the singles podium. #Tokyo2020
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) July 29, 2021
Both of their previous matches have come within the past year. The 2020 Strasbourg final saw Svitolina winning on clay 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. Earlier this year, Rybakina came back, avenging that loss with a 6-4, 7-6(7-3) straight set victory on the grass at Eastbourne.
Rybakina is 10-7 on hard courts this season, while Svitolina is s stellar 17-7. Rybakina is 7-3 in her last 10 matches, including that Eastbourne win over Svitolina. Svitolina is 6-4 in her last 10 matches.
Elena Rybakina vs Elina Svitolina Stats
| 20 | WTA Ranking | 6 |
| 2 | WTA Titles | 15 |
| 7 | WTA Final Appearances | 18 |
| 23-14 | W-L (2021) | 27-14 |
| 71.3% | Service Games Won | 64.6% |
| 32.5% | Return Games Won | 36.9% |
| 54.8% | Break Points Saved | 52.1% |
| 168 | Aces | 118 |
Rybakina hadn’t dropped a set in Tokyo prior to her semifinal loss to Bencic. She also has recent victories over Serena Williams (French Open) and Naomi Osaka (Olympics third round). Rybakina can also match Svitolina’s quickness and strong footwork on the court.
Never seen Elena Rybakina showing this much emotions. 😯 pic.twitter.com/XKD9CEQaqi
— . (@tennisgifsmedia) July 28, 2021
If Rybakina can get off to a similarly fast start as she did against Bencic, it should work to her advantage. Svitolina’s game tends to come apart if she falls behind.
Pick: Elena Rybakina (-140); Rybakina 2-0 (+150)
Sports Writer
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
