Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Australian Open: Svitolina dashes young Gauff’s hopes

By AP

Published: Published Date - 07:13 PM, Thu - 11 February 21

Big Result: Elina Svitolina exults during her second round match against Coco Gauff at the Australian Open. Photo: AP Stefanos Tsitsipas edges past a fighting No. 267-ranked Australian wild-card entry Thanasi Kokkinakis

Melbourne: Fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina beat 16-year-old Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the Australian Open.

Svitolina has reached the quarterfinals in Australia twice and showed her experience as she took on Gauff for the first time. She made the most of her only break-point chance in the second set to take a 5-3 lead and then served it out.

Svitolina will play No. 26-seeded Yulia Putintseva in the third round.

Gauff was the youngest player in the women’s draw. She was unable to repeat her performances from her breakout major in Melbourne last year. She reached the round of 16 at the 2020 Australian Open with wins over Venus Williams and Naomi Osaka before losing to eventual champion Sofia Kenin.

Fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas was pushed all the way in a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-4 win over No. 267-ranked Australian wild-card entry Thanasi Kokkinakis in a second-round match that delayed the night program on Rod Laver Arena.

Tsitsipas has a big following within Melbourne’s large Greek community but he he was playing an Aussie for the first time at the Australian Open and had to contend with having a share support in the crowd.

Tsitsipas will next play Mikael Ymer, who beat 17-year-old Spanish qualifier Carlos Alcaraz in the second round.

Mackenzie McDonald, who won NCAA tennis titles at UCLA, eliminated No. 22-seeded Borna Coric 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the Australian Open’s third round for the first time.

Defending champion Sofia Kenin is out of the Australian Open in the second round after a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Kaia Kanepi. After her first-round win, Kenin talked about how nervous she was as the defending champion at a major for the first time.

Top-seeded Ash Barty dropped a few more points in her second-round match at the Australian Open than her first — but the result was still the same.\

Barty followed up her 6-0, 6-0 drubbing of Danka Kovinic in the first round with a much tighter 6-1, 7-6 (7) win over fellow Australian Daria Gavrilova.

Former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova advanced to the third round by beating American Danielle Collins, a semifinalist at Melbourne Park in 2019, 7-5, 6-2.

American Shelby Rogers too moved up for the first time by beating qualifier Olga Danilovic 6-2, 6-3.