Charleston Open: Svitolina vs Putintseva Prediction, Odds & Pick

TennisSection previews the 2023 Charleston Open first-round match featuring Elina Svitolina vs Yulia Putintseva on Monday, April 3, 2023.

Svitolina vs Putintseva Match Preview

Former world No. 3 Elina Svitolina will return to competition for the first time since taking maternity leave. She plays the fiery Kazakh Yulia Putintseva in an intriguing opening match at the 2023 Charleston Open. Who will prevail?

Elina Svitolina hasn’t played since March 24, 2022, a year since her second-round defeat in Miami to Heather Watson. She was on a maternity break and celebrated the birth of her first child along with her husband Gael Monfils in October. The former World No. 3 was very busy post-maternity working on her fitness as well as using her platform to raise awareness and the necessary funds to help her country. How will she fare on her return to the courts at the 2023 Charleston Open?

Yulia Putintseva will stand in Elina Svitolina’s way. The Kazakh has been in awful form coming to the 2023 Charleston Open, winning once in her last five matches and losing quite handily to Rebecca Marino in Miami. But despite that, Svitolina has a lot of ground to make up in order to even get a result on Monday.

Svitolina vs Putintseva Prediction and Pick

Elina Svitolina leads Yulia Putintseva 6-2 in their head-to-head across all levels. Svitolina might have lived through her heydays already on the tennis court, but she is still only 28, and who knows, if she can work on her fitness and get in decent competitive shape, you can not rule her out from challenging for top honors again. We’ve seen returning mothers make a lasting impression on the women’s tour and a player of Svitolina’s caliber has the capability to do so. But this is her first match in a year, and as bad as Putintseva has played in recent weeks, expect her to stop the rot at the Charleston Open.