Svitolina reaches second week at consecutive majors after Kenin win at Wimbledon with Azarenka next as Andreescu recaptures 2019 magic
WTA
It will be the battle of the mothers as Elina Svitolina will face Victoria Azarenka in the Last 16 at 2023 Wimbledon after downing Sofia Kenin on Friday evening.
Svitolina has now reached the second week at consecutive majors and her astonishing comeback which only kicked off just over two months ago continues.
It was a 7-6(3), 6-2 win over American qualifier Kenin who can also have her head held high after a resurgent week beating Coco Gauff to begin the tournament after coming through qualifying.
But now it will be former World No.1, Azarenka who downed Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-4 earlier on Friday. Then it will be potentially Iga Swiatek in the Quarter-Finals in another top tie for either player.
Svitolina took the opening set by the finest of margins before easing through the second 6-2 in just over an hour and a half.
After being ranked in the top 1000, a mere three months ago, Svitolina is well inside the top 50 and with scope to go higher, wildcards will unlikely be needed now and the comeback can fully begin.
Like alluded to Azarenka saw off Kasatkina also on Friday needing just an hour and 16 minutes to take down the 11th seed and like Svitolina is looking resurgent albeit after a poor run of form.
"I felt like today was my best performance this tournament," Azarenka said afterwards. "I played very solid from the beginning to the end. It was a lot of really interesting rallies, quite a lot of variety today that I was able to use in my match.
"I was real proud of my movement. I thought it really picked up from the beginning of the tournament. Yeah, was happy to finish in two sets."
Also recapturing some magic was Bianca Andreescu who teetering on defeat to Anhelina Kalinina produced some sublime tennis to recapture her 2019 form.
A 6-2, 4-6, 7-6[7] win and next for the Canadian is Ons Jabeur who made quick work of Zhuoxuan Bai to really establish herself as a contender for the title.
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