Jan. 23 — Elina Svitolina, the Ukrainian top tennis player, ranked 12th in Women’s tennis association (WTA), defeated Russia’s Diana Shnaider, ranked 22th in WTA. With this victory Svitolina qualified in the round of 16 for the Australian Open. 

Svitolina reached the Australian Open round of 16 for the sixth time and the round of 16 at Grand Slam tournaments for the 21st time overall. Last season Svitolina reached the quarterfinals in Melbourne, Australia. 

This was the first time Svitolina met Shnaider.  Both players held serve early on, then traded breaks. The set went to a tiebreak, where Svitolina’s experience prevailed, and she won 7–4.

The second set was equally competitive. Svitolina broke her opponent’s serve to go up 3–1 and closed the set 6–3. The match lasted 1 hour and 35 minutes.

In the round of 16, Svitolina will face Romania’s Elena Gabriella Ruse, ranked 79th in WTA, or Russia’s Mirra Andreeva, depending on who wins their match. 

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