Battling Svitolina knocks out Mertens

LONDON : Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Elina Svitolina continued her fine run in Grand Slams following her maternity break as the Ukrainian wildcard downed 28th seed Elise Mertens 6-1 1-6 6-1 on Thursday to move into the third round.

Svitolina, who returned to the tour in April following the birth of her daughter, made the French Open quarter-finals last month and was too good for five-times champion Venus Williams in her Wimbledon opener.

The 28-year-old raced through the first set against Belgian Mertens on the back of two breaks of serve, showing glimpses of the form that took her to the last four in 2019, but she faced an uphill task in the next set after going 0-5 down.

Mertens levelled the match on serve, finishing with a powerful overhead smash, but former world number three Svitolina pounced in the decider to break in the second game thanks to a blistering backhand down the line.

With the momentum having swung her way again, Svitolina held her nerve to close out victory and set up a meeting with American Sofia Kenin after the former major champion beat China's Wang Xinyu 6-4 6-3.