World No.4 Elina Svitolina has confirmed that she is suffering from a hip injury following her straight sets loss at the Australian Open.
The Ukrainian was no match for an inspired Elise Mertens, who cruised to a 6-4, 6-0, win in their quarter-final clash. Svitolina, who was on a nine-match winning streak, struggled with her serve throughout the match. Winning just 46% of her service points as well as producing 19 unforced errors.
“Today was very tough for me physically.” Said Svitolina. “I was not ready to produce a good level of tennis. She’s a great player, she has a good level.”
“I couldn’t match it because physically it was very tough for me.”
It has come to light that the 23-year-old has been battling with a hip problem in recent days. She started to feel pain in the arena following her win in the final of the Brisbane International, which took place during the first week of this year. Svitolina also confirmed that she is wearing tape under her shorts to help her cope with the problem, which gives her intermittent pain.
“It’s been there all the time. I had pain all the time. But with painkillers, it was fine.” She explained.
“Rotation is making the pain worse and worse, and today was much worse than I expected.”
Despite the setback, Svitolina praised Mertens for her performance. The Belgian is currently on a ten-match winning streak after winning the Hobart International. She is making her main draw debut at the Australian Open this year at the age of 22.
“She didn’t give me opportunities. All the credit to her, because she played really good tennis and today, so I couldn’t really match it.” The fourth seed said about Mertens.
“She played great tennis. Long rallies. I couldn’t push on the serve.”
Mertens will take on either Caroline Wozniacki or Carla Suarez Navarro in the semifinals.
Svitolina will discuss with her team about what to do next concerning her hip. The world No.4 is scheduled to play at the Taiwan Open next week where she is the defending champion.
