Svitolina shares her coach with Tsonga

Svitolina defeated Japanese star Osaka.

Elina Svitolina has yet to find her best form, but she is happy with the way she has handled the pressure of being the defending champion at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
After having suffered a second set slump in her three-set win over Lucky Loser Qiang Wang of China in her opening match on Wednesday, Svitolina had no such issues with her rhythm against emerging Japanese star Naomi Osaka, winning the quarterfinal clash 6-2 6-4 in 88 minutes on Thursday.
The Ukrainian admitted that she still has not reached the level she showed here last year, but she is confident of putting up a very good fight against Angelique Kerber, the classy German who is slowly beginning to find the touch that brought her two Grand Slams and an Olympic silver medal in 2016.
For Svitolina and Kerber, this will be their second installment of Dubai semifinals after having played in the last-four stage last year with Svitolina winning in straight sets. Another title in Dubai will make Svitolina only the third player after Justine Henin and Venus Williams to defend the title.
"I am definitely happy the way I've been handling the pressure and tough moments. I had two good matches. I cannot say it was amazing tennis, but when I needed I was stepping up and playing well," the world number four said. "Still I have the semifinal ahead of me. I don't want to say early. But, yeah, the way I was playing, it was enough to go through today."
Last year's Dubai triumph was Svitolina's first success at a Premier tournament and the 23-year-old player revealed what she did with the prize-money.
"I hired a new physio," she smiled. "Well, bigger team for me. Always investing, trying to invest in myself. Also I had nutritionist added to my team. These things cost lots of money. I prefer to do that. "But, you know, it was probably a phone that I bought after winning my first ever title in tennis. I always like having mobile phone, the newest one," she said.
Not many elite players share their coach with another star. But Svitolina shares her coach with none other than Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the former Australian Open finalist. "Yes my main coach is Thierry Ascione. He cannot travel all the time as he's the coach of Jo Tsonga. I go to see him in Paris, where he's based," she said.
"I have Andy always with me, Andrew. He's a second coach and hitting partner. Yeah, I have a fitness coach back in London. I'm looking for a physio now who can travel. It's not so easy to find one who can actually travel every week with me.""But with Thierry, it's always Jo who has the first say. I'm not the main person there. Just when he's free, I go to Paris. If Jo is not taking him that week, I have the chance to work with him."
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com