In the 1/8 finals, Elina knocked out the "neutral" Russian Veronika Kudermetova.
Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina (No. 27 WTA) made a symbolic gesture after reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open-2025.
In the 1/8 finals, the 30-year-old native of Odessa beat neutral tennis player with Russian passport Veronika Kudermetova (No. 75 WTA) with a score of 6:4, 6:1.
After defeating her opponent from the aggressor country, Elina approached the camera and wrote on it “The spirit of Ukraine”.
It was previously reported that Svitolina extended her winning streak in matches against Russians after the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine. The victory over Kudermetova was Elina's ninth over tennis players from the aggressor country since February 24, 2022. During this time, she has never lost to opponents with Russian passports.
Elina will play in the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam tournaments for the twelfth time. She has reached this stage three times at the Australian Open (2018, 2019, 2025), four times at Roland Garros (2015, 2017, 2020, 2023), twice at the US Open (2019, 2021) and three times at Wimbledon (2019, 2023, 2024).
For a spot in her debut semifinal of the Australian major, Svitolina will compete against American Madison Keys (No. 14 WTA), who knocked out Elena Rybakina (No. 7 WTA) from Kazakhstan in the 1/8 finals – 6:3, 1:6, 6:3.
Svitolina is the only Ukrainian who continues to compete in singles at the 2025 Australian Open. Earlier, Yulia Starodubtseva, Daria Snigur and Angelina Kalinina failed to make it through the first round of the competition. And Marta Kostyuk and Dayana Yastremska were eliminated in the third round.
The main draw matches of the 2025 Australian Open will be held from January 12 to 26. The current champion of the tournament is Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who is playing in a neutral status due to the full-scale war of Russian occupiers against Ukraine.