Svitolina rallies from sloppy start to reach last eight in Melbourne

MELBOURNE : Ukraine's Elina Svitolina recovered from a sub-par first 20 minutes to charge past Russian Veronika Kudermetova 6-4 6-1 on Monday and reach the last eight of the Australian Open for the third time.

The 30-year-old was 4-1 down in the first set but upped her aggression to rattle off the next five games and put one foot in the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam for the 12th time.

Kudermetova had a medical treatment at the end of the first set but could not stop the rot as Svitolina broke for 3-1 in the second stanza with a volley at the net.

The Ukrainian was by now charged with confidence and soon set up a tie against six-seeded Kazakh Elena Rybakina or American Madison Keys by sending another thunderous backhand winner down the Rod Laver Arena court.

"I was just trying to fight, it's the only thing I can do when things are not going my way," she said of her poor start to the match.

"I'm really happy I could fight my way back into the match and win in straight sets."

There was no handshake at the net as Svitolina continued the boycott of the post-match tradition which Ukrainian players have maintained when facing Russians and Belarusians since the 2022 invasion of their country.

Svitolina, who is 7-0 against Russian players since the invasion and wrote the message "the Spirit of Ukraine" on the camera before she left the court, last reached the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park in 2019.

"I feel it was a lifetime ago," she said "To come back again and again, after the pregnancy, after the surgery, starting from zero, it's not easy, I can tell you.

"For me, it's a really amazing feeling to go deep in this kind of tournament, in the Grand Slams."

Svitolina said she would be on Margaret Court Arena later on Monday to