Svitolina’s focus, health not there despite moving into third round

MELBOURNE—It’s not easy being the favorite, particularly if you’re not feeling 100 percent. Elina Svitolina’s Australian Open campaign was in danger against Katerina Siniakova on Wednesday—but, luckily for her, only for a set.

The No. 4 seed started out too passively at Rod Laver Arena, letting the hard-hitting 21-year-old find her rhythm and pound her way to a 6-4 lead.

“I think she was playing great in the first set,” Svitolina said. “I gave her this one break and this chance to dominate and play well. It was my mistake, hopefully in the next round I will be more focused.”

Siniakova’s risky game unraveled after she took a medical timeout, while the Ukrainian stepped up a few levels to dictate the rallies and put Siniakova under pressure. It was as if a new match had begun after the set changeover, with Svitolina eventually moving into the third round, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

“It was second and third set was 6-2, 6-1, but I felt like it was 8-6 in the third. It was very tough for me today,” Svitolina said. “Not feeling great and was not focused on the right things, so, yeah, that's why it made it tougher for myself.

Svitolina can breath a sigh of relief, and look forward to cooling off (temperatures in Melbourne are creeping toward the 90s) and recovering. It turns out Svitolina almost didn’t take the court for her first round with injury problems.

“I'm relieved that I won today,” she said. “Maybe I’m going feel better for my third round. It's not every day that I can play someone who's from my country. And especially for Ukrainian supporters it's going to be fun to watch.”

Melbourne has yet to be the site of success for Svitolina. It’s her worst major (though not by far) with three third-round finishes. This should—at least—be the year she goes one step further as she faces 15-year-old qualifier Marta Kostyuk next.

For the past year, Svitolina has been climbing the ranks and racking up titles, even winning Brisbane to start 2018. It’s thanks, in part, to her improved focus.

“For me it's very important for me to be there with my game and don't really think [about] who's on the other side,” Svitolina said. “I have been playing like this for almost one year and a half, so it's not going to change for my next match, as well.”

But Svitolina has still never gone beyond the quarterfinals of a major and this may be the first time she’s been labeled a major favorite, adding pressure to her questionable health.

“Of course winning Brisbane and having a good year in 2017 has been great,” Svitolina said. “But it’s a Grand Slam and every opponent is very tough and everyone deserves to win and to be here.”

Why hasn’t Svitolina been able to turn all her title-winning success into a deep Grand Slam run? Winning a major requires a lot of factors lining up perfectly for a much longer period of time, and things just haven’t clicked—yet—for the 24-year-old.

She’s certainly overdue for a final-four showing at a Slam, but only if her health and focus is all there. Stay tuned.

Read Joel Drucker and Nina Pantic on TENNIS.com as they report from the Australian Open, and watch them each day on The Daily Mix:

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