Fourth seed Elina Svitolina came back from a set down to register a hard fought 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic to reach the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.
Svitolina could only convert six of her 20 break points, hit only 22 winners in comparison to the Czech’s 30 and, was outmuscled many a times by the 2013 junior Australian Open finalist. It looked like Siniakova was playing with the attitude ‘I have nothing to lose’ and was striking the ball as cleanly as possible, with confidence and great consistency.
Svitolina, who is yet to lose a match in 2018 after winning the Brisbane International, a key warm-up for the Aussie Open, was put under tremendous pressure right from the outset by Siniakova. Visibly struggling in Melbourne’s searing heat, Svitolina was unable to play her natural game and lost the opening set despite fighting really hard to overcome the challenge of her 59th ranked opponent.
However, everything changed in the second set as the Ukrainian started to find her range. Svitolina began dictating the pattern of play with her swift movement on the court, forcing Siniakova to play the waiting game in the rallies. The longer the rally went, it was Svitolina who eventually won the point.
This cat and mouse play continued in the third set as well where Siniakova completely broke down as she failed to come to terms with Svitolina ploy. In the end, Svitolina survived the aforementioned first set blip to move into the round of 32 in two hours and 14 minutes. For a place in the pre-quarterfinals, Svitolina will have to battle Marta Kostyuk, her teenaged countrywoman, who stunned Australian wildcard Olivia Rogowska in straight sets.
“I thought I’m gonna melt today,’’ Svitolina said. “It wasn’t easy, and I was struggling today. Hopefully I can recover. Can’t wait for ice bath.
“I thought she was playing great first set. I gave her just one break… It was my kind-of mistake, so hopefully next round I will be more focused.’’
