Tennis-Svitolina rallies from sloppy start to reach last eight in Melbourne

By Nick Mulvenney

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina recovered from a sub-par first 20 minutes to charge past Russian Veronika Kudermetova 6-4 6-1 on Monday and reach the last eight of the Australian Open for the third time.

The 30-year-old was 4-1 down in the first set but upped her aggression to rattle off the next five games and put one foot in the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam for the 12th time.

Kudermetova had a medical treatment at the end of the first set but could not stop the rot as Svitolina broke for 3-1 in the second stanza with a volley at the net.

The Ukrainian was by now charged with confidence and soon set up a tie against six-seeded Kazakh Elena Rybakina or American Madison Keys by sending another thunderous backhand winner down the Rod Laver Arena court.

“I was just trying to fight, it’s the only thing I can do when things are not going my way,” she said of her poor start to the match.

“I’m really happy I could fight my way back into the match and win in straight sets.”

There was no handshake at the net as Svitolina continued the boycott of the post-match tradition which Ukrainian players have maintained when facing Russians and Belarusians since the 2022 invasion of their country.

Svitolina, who is 7-0 against Russian players since the invasion and wrote the message “the Spirit of Ukraine” on the camera before she left the court, last reached the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park in 2019.

“I feel it was a lifetime ago,” she said “To come back again and again, after the pregnancy, after the surgery, starting from zero, it’s not easy, I can tell you.

“For me, it’s a really amazing feeling to go deep in this kind of tournament, in the Grand Slams.”

Svitolina said she would be on Margaret Court Arena later on Monday to cheer on her husband Gael Monfils in his fourth-round tie against American Ben Shelton.

“Playing the way he’s playing now is special,” she said of the 38-year-old Frenchman.

“We are witnessing something really nice.”

(Repoprting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)