Thursday, Jan 20, 2022. 6:12 PM
Powerful and omnipresent, the Belarusian Viktoria Azarenka, 25th in the world, overwhelmed the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (17th) on Friday 6-0, 6-2 in 1:07 to climb into the round of 16 of the Australian Open.
“I played well tactically. She defends very well so I had to smother her and that’s what I managed to do,” commented Azarenka.
Double winner in Melbourne (2012 and 2013), the former world No. 1 will face the Czech Barbora Krejcikova (4th), winner of the last Roland-Garros, or the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (27th) on Sunday to try to clinch a place in the quarterfinals .
Svitolina, ex-3rd in the WTA, won her first game after dropping eight in which she scored just 12 points in total, 20 less than her opponent.
Dominating (17 winning points for nine unforced errors), Azarenka also took advantage of the large number of unforced errors committed by Svitolina to win an absolutely one-sided match.
The only disputed moment of the game was the last game, on Azarenka’s serve, where Svitolina saved five match points and had three break points, before losing on a 26th and final unforced error.
Semi-finalist at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2019, the Ukrainian has never gone beyond the quarters (2018 and 2019) in Melbourne.
Her next rival will be Barbora Krejcikova, who beat Jelena Ostapenko 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. The duel opposed two champions of Roland-Garros.
Later on Friday, favorite Ashleigh Barty will face Camila Giorgi.
The winner will face the defending champion, Naomi Osaka, or the American Amanda Anisimova, 60th in the world.
