Svitolina defeats Romania’s No. 1 to reach second round at Australian Open
Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina (WTA 27) kicked off her 2025 Australian Open campaign with a solid first-round victory over Romania’s top-ranked player, Sorana Cirstea (WTA 71).
This was Svitolina’s first match of the season, and she now moves on to face Caroline Dolehide (USA, WTA 83) in the second round.
Australian Open 2025 – Round of 128
Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) def. Sorana Cirstea (Romania) – 6-4, 6-4
Match duration: 1 hour 34 minutes
Key stats: Svitolina dropped only one service game, hit two aces, and committed four double faults.
Ukrainians at the Australian Open
Ukraine is well-represented at the tournament, with Marta Kostyuk, Dayana Yastremska, Anhelina Kalinina, and Daria Snihur also competing.
Kostyuk and Snihur are set to play their first-round matches on Jan. 13. Yuliia Starodubtseva fell to Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in her first-round match.
Svitolina’s husband and French ATP star, Gaël Monfils, won the ATP 250 title in Auckland, New Zealand. At 38 years and 4 months old, Monfils became the oldest champion of an ATP tournament since the tour’s official formation in 1990, breaking Roger Federer’s record (who won Basel at 38 years and 2 months in 2019).
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