Svitolina outfoxes Andreeva to reach fourth Australian Open quarterfinal

Only three players have reached more Grand Slam quarterfinals than Elina Svitolina since her Slam debut in 2012:

• Serena Williams (21)
• Simona Halep (16)
• Aryna Sabalenka (15)

That’s the entire list. Svitolina sits next, and on Sunday night she added to her total, advancing to her 14th career major quarterfinal -- and fourth at the Australian Open -- with a 6-2, 6-4 win over World No. 8 Mirra Andreeva in 1 hour and 23 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

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“It’s unbelievable,” Svitolina said in her on-court interview. “I’m very, very pleased with the performance tonight, and I had to really put up a fight and fight until the very last point. It was an extremely nerve-wracking match, and I was very happy the way I held myself.”

The victory improves her record to 7-14 against Top 10 opponents at Grand Slams and 2-3 at the Australian Open. She’ll get another chance to improve those numbers in the quarterfinals, where World No. 3 Coco Gauff awaits in what will be their fourth meeting at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level.

"I don't want to think too much about it," Svitolina said of her next match. "It's, like, another opportunity for me to go far in the tournament.

"I want to focus on my recovery. I want to focus on my game plan that I have to execute well. I think right now this is the priorities for me."

And before she could look ahead, she had to get through Andreeva, who arrived in Melbourne fresh off a title run in Adelaide and appeared poised for another deep push.

Svitolina shut that door quickly, leaning on her experience to take control of the match’s biggest moments and keep the 18-year-old from ever settling in.

“I was expecting a tough battle and lots of long rallies,” Svitolina said. “I was trying to just move my feet extremely well today, be really focused and find the small holes in her game and try to use them.”

With that in mind, here are three key points that swung the match in Svitolina's favor:

1-0, First set: It goes against conventional wisdom to say the first game shaped the match, but it would be hard to overstate how critical it was. Svitolina was taken to school on the first three points, as Andreeva took the ball early off the 31-year-old’s racket on her first serve of the match and deposited a forehand winner back down the line en route to a 0-40 lead.

But Svitolina responded with poise. She saved the first break point with a forehand winner of her own and rattled off five straight points to hold for 1-0. It proved to be a preview of the streaky match to come.

2-1, Second set: After Svitolina closed the first set by winning the final three games, she opened the second set with a double fault and was broken at love. Andreeva was surging, having won the first 10 points of the set and 11 of the first 12.

The last of those came on a wicked slice drop shot that gave her double break point and a chance to go up 3-0. Instead, Svitolina steadied herself again, saving the first break point with an ace and winning four straight points to hold for 2-1, avoiding a potentially devastating double-break deficit.

6-4, Second set: That hold proved pivotal, as Svitolina broke back in the very next game, and after four straight holds, found herself leading 5-4.

What followed was the point of the match: a 22-shot rally in which Svitolina spent much of the exchange scrambling but managed to push one last ball over the net. The net cord nearly helped Andreeva, but her slice return dipped just low, moving Svitolina within two points of victory.

Andreeva saved one match point -- created by her own double fault -- but another unforced error, one of 33 on the night, handed Svitolina a second chance. The Ukrainian capitalized, burying one final forehand winner to end it.

Her attention now shifts to Gauff, whom she trails 1-2 in their head-to-head. Her lone win, however, came five years ago in Melbourne.