A Frenchwoman in the third round?

And why not..

Elsa is a bit like the female version of Benoît Paire. Not sure she’d like the comparison, but you have to admit she’s got a big mouth on court, especially under pressure. I follow her a lot on the Challenger circuit and it’s often the same pattern. In any case, she stood up to a Kostyuk who started 2026 at full throttle! Three tiebreaks and 3h30 of battle. That’s where the difference with Benoît shows… she actually wins her matches.

Jokes aside, Elsa managed to contain the Ukrainian’s constant aggression and her 67 winners. A mix of unforced errors, almost as many as her winners, and an ankle issue also had an impact on this match. The Frenchwoman finished with only 37 winners for 48 unforced errors. Lots of waste on both sides, which ultimately balanced things out. Elsa was stressed the whole time, regularly snapping at her team, as if that was her way of letting go of the pressure against a Ukrainian who was going for broke, but who only converted 2 break points out of 18. Elsa managed to respond and keep the ship afloat, that’s what matters.

She’s got a good serve, with about 4.3 aces on average. Will that be enough against the Kazakh? It’s possible, because her recent matches are almost bordering on the miraculous. Historically, this surface suits her less, mainly because of the amount of play involved. 2025 was pretty flat. Against very defensive profiles, like Navarro, she quickly runs out of solutions. Against big servers, she doesn’t always show up, as her returning abilities are limited. She really finds her groove in long, aggressive rallies.

The match against Haddad Maia almost looked like a bit of a smash-and-grab. She managed to come through thanks to an error count equivalent to the Brazilian’s number of winners, even though Haddad Maia had everything in hand to win. The key moments went the Kazakh’s way in three sets, but the performance itself wasn’t convincing.

Here, we’ll probably get a real ego war between two complainers, but Elsa has a more complete game and often proves decisive in tight moments, all the more so lifted by the magnitude of the event.