Elina Svitolina will take on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round of the US Open.

Twenty-sixth seed Svitolina will face World No. 98 Pavlyuchenkova on the court at Louis Armstrong Stadium today, Thursday, August 31. The Ukrainian played against Anna-Lena Friedsam in the opening round, confidently defeating the German in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.

Meanwhile, Pavlyuchenkova also won convincingly against her first-round opponent, defeating American qualifier Fiona Crawley 6-2, 6-4.

Pavlyuchenkova narrowly leads the head-to-head between the two players 3-2. However, they have not faced each other since 2020, where Svitolina won their match at the Italian open in straight sets.

Moreover, Svitolina has had a stunning comeback this summer after coming back from maternity leave in March. She welcomed her daughter Skai with her husband, French tennis player Gael Monfils, last October.

Since she returned to the sport, the 28-year-old has defeated world No. 1 Iga Swiatek to make it to the semi-finals of Wimbledon. She has also won 20 out of 31 matches and took the title at the Internationaux de Strasbourg.

At the same time, Pavlyuchenkova reached the quarter-finals of this year's French Open and Internationaux de Strasbourg, and has won 15 out of 27 matches.

The Russian has an aggressive style and possesses the ability to hit winners from both wings. However, Svitolina's solid baseline game and impressive court coverage, combined with her overall consistency, should help her to take the win - although it could be a close one.