Elina Svitloina wrote “The Spirit of Ukraine” on the TV camera after extending her unbeaten run against Russians to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals.
Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina is out – but refused to blame the absence of her suspended coach from her team for the defeat.
Breast cancer survivor Gabriela Dabrowksi and her partner Erin Routliffe are through to the last eight of the women’s doubles.
And a young Uruguayan star lit up Melbourne Park with his Aussie-inspired tennis shirt
Svitolina shows “fighting spirit”
Elina Svitolina fought back from two breaks down in the first set and won 11 of the next 12 games to beat Veronika Kudermetova 6-4 6-1 to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals for the third time. As usual, there was no handshake at the net from the Ukrainian.
The world No.27 is now 8-0 against Russian opponents since the invasion of her homeland in February 2022.
The Ukrainian said: “I’m extremely motivated to win today, that people in Ukraine wake up to good news. I’m very happy that I made it happen. That this fighting spirit that I have is completely Ukrainian spirit that I try to show, that I try to represent, as well.
“Especially now these days in a very difficult days for Ukraine. It’s almost been three years that the war is ongoing. Of course, it’s on a daily basis a very heavy rucksack that all Ukrainians have on their backs.”
The Ukrainian will now face Madison Keys after the American knocked out former finalist Rybakina 6-3 1-6 6-3
The Russian-born Kazakh has been unable to have her normal coach Stefano Vukov on site after his suspension by the WTA for allegedly mistreating rybakina.
But the No.6 has continued to seek advice off the Croat along with new coach Goran Ivanisevic.
And she said: “This is not the situation I want to be or someone wants to be. Of course, I want to have who I want in the box, but I couldn’t change it. In the end of the day, I just tried to focus on my matches, and I spoke with him. I also have Goran, so it didn’t affect the way I played today or any of the result, I think.
“Will I keep Goran on my team? Well, we still need to talk, of course because we just tried the preseason, and these couple of tournaments it was something just getting used to each other. We will definitely talk how the next schedule is going to look like.”
Inspired Dabrowski
Gabriela Dabrowski revealed last month that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in April of 2024 – and was inundated with support from stars like Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur, Madison Keys.
“I really feel like it’s a privilege to be a part of the sisterhood of breast cancer survivors. It’s come to a place of peace and of wanting to give back,” Dabrowski said.
The Ottawa-based star and her partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the the women’s doubles quarterfinals after knocking out Laura Siegemund of Germany and Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 6-7 6-3, 6-4 .
Kit of the day
Coco Gauff has attracted attention for her New Balance outfits at this Australian Open. But Uruguayan doubles player Ariel Behar took tennis fashion to a new level today with his custom-made pink and purple shirt with kangaroos in sunglasses.
