By Tate Papworth
Ukranian Elina Svitolina has cruised into her first Australian Open quarter final with an emphatic 6-3 6-1 victory over Denisa Allertova.
The world number four showed exactly why she’s one of the hot favourites to take this year’s title, breaking her opponent in the opening game of the match.
Allertova responded immediately, breaking Svitolina in the following game, however from that moment on, it was all one way traffic.
Allertova managed to win just three more games for the match as Svitolina controlled proceedings, wrapping up the contest in just under an hour.
While it was a quick match, it was by no means an early finish.
A late end to the Nick Kyrgios and Grigor Dimitrov contest meant that it was 11.57pm before Svitonlia and Allertova took their positions to begin the fourth round match.
“Thank you guys for staying up so late,” Svitolina said during her after match on-court interview.
“I’m pleased with my performance here. It’s not the first time I’ve played as a favourite…
“It’s more pressure, but it also gives you that extra confidence.”
Svitolina will need to keep her strong form going as her path to the title gets significantly more difficult from here.
After defeating three qualifiers in the opening four rounds, she now faces the world number 36, Belgian’s Elise Mertens, for a spot in the semi final.
