It was a fairy-tale run for Marta Kostyuk, but in the end the 15 year-old Ukrainian was defeated by her compatriot and 4th seed Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-2 in the Australian Open third round. Svitolina looked good on a searingly hot day in Melbourne, and both players looked affected by the conditions.
Kostyuk had captured the imagination of fans in the early rounds as she had knocked out 25th seed Shuai Peng. and then Olivia Rogowska in the second round. Svitolina, despite having struggled herself in the second round, came through this one easily enough, dropping just four games in a match that lasted exactly one hour.
Svitolina will face the unseeded Denisa Allertova, who defeated Magdena Linette 6-1, 6-4. With Petra Martic and Elise Mertens also on her side of the draw, after early defeats for Venus Williams and Julia Goerges, Svitolina has a good chance to make the quarter-finals at the very least.
Svitolina: “It was sad that I was playing a Ukrainian girl. It’s always difficult playing someone from your own country, but I’m happy that I’m still alive in this tournament.”
The weather proved a significant factor for a match for the second day running. After Gael Monfils struggled against Novak Djokovic on Thursday, Alize Cornet had issues on Friday, as the temperatures again climbed above 40 degrees Celsius. The Frenchwoman struggled at times but finished the match, though she lost 7-5, 6-4 to Elise Mertens.
Elsewhere, Luksika Kumkhum was unable to back up her excellent win over Belinda Bencic. The qualifier lost to Croatia’s Petra Martic, 6-3, 3-3, 7-5.
