Real Ukrainian test

Linda Nošková is patiently building her reputation as a player who’s hard to beat on any surface. A semifinal in Indian Wells, a quarterfinal in Stuttgart, a quarterfinal in Madrid where she came back from a double break down in the third set against Gauff before losing to an irresistible Kostyuk. Her 2026 record of fifteen wins and eight losses is consistent with a solid player, tall, 1.79m, who hits flat and hard, and knows how to manage complicated matches. Yesterday she dispatched Zakharova 6-4 6-1. But her 2026 clay stats reveal a structural flaw that her ranking hides. She lands only 58.6% of first serves on this surface, her return points won on opponents’ first serves is 35.5%, and her 34.2% of return games won puts her near the bottom of the table for a player of her standing. She’s not a clay-court specialist, and the numbers confirm it.

Oliynykova’s story is that of a player shaped on clay from the very beginning, accompanied by her father Denys, who has always coached her. Thirteen Challenger and ITF titles, all on clay, 275 wins for 122 losses at those levels on this surface. She arrives in Rome for her first third round in a WTA 1000 after a run that already says a lot about who she is. In the first round, 6-1 6-3 against Marcinko, brisk and clean. In the second round against Tauson, the match only went to 1-1 before the Dane retired with a back injury, but the points that were played revealed something valuable. Oliynykova plays an unusual kind of clay tennis: high, slow moonballs that break up the rhythm, constant variation that unsettles players used to a fast baseline pace. Tauson, technically solid though she is, was clearly thrown off by these trajectories before having to stop. This constructed, patient, ultra-varied game is exactly what makes the great specialists on this surface so strong, and that’s precisely what Oliynykova brings into this third round.