Fellow Ukrainian Svitolina ends run of young Kostyuk
MELBOURNE, Australia — Elina Svitolina ended 15-year-old Marta Kostyuk’s run at the Australian Open, met her at the net for a warm embrace, and offered some words of encouragement.
With the temperature hitting 104 degrees for the second straight day, fourthseeded Svitolina reached the fourth round at the season-opening major for the first time with the 6-2, 6-2 win on the top court.
“It was sad playing another Ukrainian girl. Same country is always tough,” Svitolina, one of five women in contention for the No. 1 ranking, said. “She’s a great fighter. She has a great future — we’re going to hear a lot more about her.”
Kostyuk entered the tournament ranked No. 521 — a number that will likely be halved next month — and had wins over 25thseeded Peng Shuai and Olivia Rogowska.
The step up to facing a top-10 player was too much for Kostyuk on Friday.
She had nine double faults, including on match point, and got only 37 percent of her first serves into play.
Svitolina, the only seeded player still in contention in her quarter, had five aces and only 11 unforced errors and didn’t serve a double fault in the 59-minute match.
Kostyuk sobbed into a towel in the tunnel soon after leaving the court but could joke about the defeat when asked what she could take out of the experience.
“Well, a lot,” she said. “How much you have to pay Svitolina to have one-hour lesson? I got it for free.”
Kostyuk received entry into qualifying because of her junior girls victory at last year’s Australian Open. She won all three qualifying matches, then her first two in the main draw.
Svitolina will next play Denisa Allertova, who beat Magda Linette 6-1, 6-4.