Elina Svitolina triumphed over her Russian opponent, securing a spot in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Australian Open.
Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina achieved her fourth victory at the Australian Open 2025. In two sets, the former top racket of Ukraine defeated Russian player Veronika Kudermetova, who is competing under a neutral flag, and advanced to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Australian Open 2025, 1/8 Finals
Elina Svitolina (Ukraine, WTA No. 27) – Veronika Kudermetova (WTA No. 75) – 6:4, 6:1
The match lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes. This was the third encounter between the two players, with Svitolina winning their first direct confrontation.
In the first set, Elina was trailing 1:4 with two breaks against her, but managed to stage a comeback. After the ninth game, Kudermetova called for a medical timeout. Veronika was experiencing abdominal muscle issues and went to the locker room after the first set.
TURNED IT UP
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 20, 2025
Svitolina won five consecutive games to take the first set 6-4 against Kudermetova.
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Svitolina ended the second set with a dominant score of 6:1. Notably, the only game she lost in the second set was at the start, when the score was 1:0, after which she won five games in a row.
As a result, Elina reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the third time in her career, matching her personal best at the tournament, which she achieved in 2018 and 2019. Last year, the Ukrainian withdrew from the 1/8 final due to injury, so after this tournament, she will improve her position in the WTA rankings, rising at least 24 spots. Svitolina's best results at Grand Slams remain semi-finals at the US Open (2019) and Wimbledon (2019, 2023). She has reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros four times (2015, 2017, 2020, 2023).
To advance to the semi-finals, Svitolina will face American Madison Keys (WTA No. 14), who eliminated another Russian player, now representing Kazakhstan, Elena Rybakina (WTA No. 7).
Interestingly, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Svitolina has played nine matches against Russian players in tennis tournaments, winning all of them. Currently, there are two "neutral" players left in the Australian Open – Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will compete against Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the world No. 1, who is defending her championship title in Melbourne for the second time.