Australian Open: Svitolina enters Australian Open quarter-finals after 6 years

Ukrainian star tennis player and 28th seed Elina Svitolina has made it to the Australian Open quarter-finals for the first time in six years by defeating Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 6-1 in the fourth round match held at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena on Monday. Former world number 3 Svitolina has achieved this feat after creating history by becoming the first Ukrainian player to win 100 matches in the Grand Slam. This is the 12th Grand Slam quarter-final of her career. Now in the quarter-finals, Svitolina will face the winner of the fourth-round match between sixth seed Elina Rybakina and 19th seed Madison Keys.

There are some players for whom becoming a mom also doesn't impact their game performance. It's her fourth Grand Slam quarterfinal after giving birth to daughter Sky in 2022. Svitolina has twice made the Australian Open quarterfinals in consecutive years in 2018 and 2019.

Svitolina made a brilliant start last year but had to withdraw after only three games in her fourth-round match against Linda Noskova with a back injury. Since then, she struggled with problems through the season and eventually took time off after the US Open for foot surgery. This is her first tournament after surgery.

Svitolina faced difficulties at the start of the fourth round match, as former world number-9 Kudermetova played aggressively and took a 4-1 lead. But, Svitolina regained her rhythm and won five consecutive games and won the first set. Svitolina made a brilliant comeback in the second set and took complete control of the match with a 3-1 lead and won in 83 minutes.