Pakistan, May 26 -- Elina Svitolina survived a major scare to reach the second round of the French Open, having to come from behind to labour past unheralded Anna Bondar 3-6 6-1 7-6 (10-3) on Monday. A month after she was knocked out of the Madrid Open in straight sets by the Hungarian, Ukrainian seventh seed Svitolina could not find her range on the Suzanne ?Lenglen Court, falling apart in the opening set after cancelling out an early break.

Svitolina, however, bounced back in the second but it was not as easy as the 6-1 scoreline suggested.

The 31-year-old fell 3-1 behind in the decider but clawed her way back and broke decisively for 4-3. Serving for the match at 5-4, she was broken to love, losing eight points in a row to find herse...