No. 28 seed Ukrainian Elina Svitolina has reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open for the first time in six years, moving into Rod Laver Arena to take a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Veronika Kudermetova in Monday's fourth round.
Former World No. 3 Svitolina, coming off her breakthrough as the first player from Ukraine to reach 100 Grand Slam match wins, is into her 12th career Grand Slam quarterfinal.
In the quarterfinals, Svitolina will be the opponent of the fourth-round winner over No. 6 seed Elena Rybakina and No. 19 seed Madison Keys.
Her Slam victories haven't slowed down even since her return from maternity leave in 2023 -- it's her fourth Slam quarterfinal since giving birth to daughter Skai in 2022.
In 2018 and 2019, Svitolina reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open consecutively. Svitolina, last year, came into the Australian Open playing some of her best tennis only to be forced to retire from her fourth-round match against Linda Noskova after just three games due to a back injury.
She will face a tough start against Kudermetova, a former World No. 9, who hit big and surged to a 4-1 lead with a double-break advantage. Svitolina regained her composure to win five consecutive games and take the one-set lead.
She cut short the season due to various physical issues and underwent foot surgery after the US Open. This is the first tournament following that procedure.
Svitolina took complete control in the second set, breaking for a 3-1 lead with a perfect volley, and cruised to an 83-minute victory from that point.
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