Svitolina leads record Ukrainian squad into Australian Open third round
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For the first time ever, four Ukrainian women have reached the third round of a Grand Slam. The country's No.1, three-time major semifinalist Elina Svitolina
View Profile to make the third round of a major for the 11th time, but only the second -- and first since 2013 -- at Melbourne Park. Kostyuk followed, saving match point to defeat No.25 seed Elise Mertens
View Profile 5-7, 6-1, 7-6[6] in a high-quality thriller. The 21-year-old is in a Slam third round for the seventh time, four of which have come at the Australian Open -- where she was also crowned junior champion in 2017.
Svitolina, whose return from maternity leave in April saw her named WTA Comeback Player of the Year last month, continued her strong form to defeat No.70-ranked Tomova. The 29-year-old is fresh off a run to the Auckland final, and fired 25 winners against the Bulgarian. Svitolina has now reached at least the third round in nine of 11 Australian Open appearances; her best showings were a pair of quarterfinals in 2018 and 2019. She has lost just eight games through two rounds so far this year.
It was the lowest-ranked of the quartet who sealed the historic record, though. No.93-ranked qualifier Dayana Yastremska
View Profile in the first round to notch her first Grand Slam main draw win since the 2020 US Open, and has only lost eight games in two main-draw matches. Former World No.21 Yastremska has returned to a major third round for the fourth time, and first since the 2019 US Open.
Four previous majors had seen three Ukrainians in the Round of 32: US Open 2016 (Svitolina, Tsurenko, Kateryna Volodko); Australian Open 2018 (Svitolina, Kostyuk, Volodko); Australian Open 2023 (Kostyuk, Anhelina Kalinina
View Profile , whom she defeated 6-1, 6-2 in the first round here in 2019 -- their only previous meeting. Yastremska will take on No.27 seed Emma Navarro
