For the first time ever, four Ukrainian women have reached the third round of a Grand Slam. The country's No.1, three-time major semifinalist Elina Svitolina, spearheaded the charge with a 65-minute 6-1, 6-3 defeat of Viktoriya Tomova on Thursday.
On Wednesday, No.28 seed Lesia Tsurenko and No.37-ranked Marta Kostyuk had led the way. Tsurenko advanced 6-3, 6-4 past Rebeka Masarova to make the third round of a major for the 11th time, but only the second -- and first since 2013 -- at Melbourne Park. Kostyuk followed, saving match point to defeat No.25 seed Elise Mertens 5-7, 6-1, 7-6[6] in a high-quality thriller. The 21-year-old is in a Slam third round for the seventh time, four of which have come at the Australian Open -- where she was also crowned junior champion in 2017.
Svitolina, whose return from maternity leave in April saw her named WTA Comeback Player of the Year last month, continued her strong form to defeat No.70-ranked Tomova. The 29-year-old is fresh off a run to the Auckland final, and fired 25 winners against the Bulgarian. Svitolina has now reached at least the third round in nine of 11 Australian Open appearances; her best showings were a pair of quarterfinals in 2018 and 2019. She has lost just eight games through two rounds so far this year.
It was the lowest-ranked of the quartet who sealed the historic record, though. No.93-ranked qualifier Dayana Yastremska struck 22 winners en route to defeating Varvara Gracheva 6-3, 6-2 in just 66 minutes. The 23-year-old had struggled in qualifying, needing three sets in each of her matches against Lea Boskovic, Valentini Grammatikopoulou and Maya Joint. However, she upset No.7 seed Marketa Vondrousova in the first round to notch her first Grand Slam main draw win since the 2020 US Open, and has only lost eight games in two main-draw matches. Former World No.21 Yastremska has returned to a major third round for the fourth time, and first since the 2019 US Open.
Four previous majors had seen three Ukrainians in the Round of 32: US Open 2016 (Svitolina, Tsurenko, Kateryna Volodko); Australian Open 2018 (Svitolina, Kostyuk, Volodko); Australian Open 2023 (Kostyuk, Anhelina Kalinina, Kateryna Baindl) and Wimbledon 2023 (Svitolina, Kostyuk, Tsurenko).
Svitolina next faces Viktorija Golubic, whom she defeated 6-1, 6-2 in the first round here in 2019 -- their only previous meeting. Yastremska will take on No.27 seed Emma Navarro for the first time.
