Elina Svitolina defeated Caroline Wozniacki in three sets 5-7 6-4 7-6(1) to move into the fourth round.
After beating Shuai Zhang in the second round, the Ukrainian was handed a much tougher tie against Wozniacki who has been experiencing a tough 2016 so far. With her best performance this year being a semi-final appearance in Auckland, Wozniacki would have been eager to get her year back on track. And she started off how she would have wanted to breaking Svitolina to win the first set 7-5.
Tight second set
The second set was to be another tight affair as both players held serve comfortably until 3-3 where Svitolina, 21, would break Wozniacki to take a 4-3 lead. This was to prove vital in the set as Svitolina would go on to serve it out to take the match to a final set. Much like the first two sets, the third was also a closely fought encounter. With both players exchanging breaks but neither managing to consolidate, the final set went to a tie-break. With the result up in the air considering how close the three sets were up until that point it was a surprise when Svitolina would go on to take seven of the next eight points to take the tie-break and the match with it.
Wozniacki woes continue
After a tough 2015 which saw Wozniacki drop out of the top ten, it remained to be seen whether Wozniacki could reach the heights that saw her reach world number one in the rankings. Little has been done to erase the doubts that linger this year having only won three matches in a row just once this year. Having now dropped out the top 20, the Dane appears in free fall and may consider some radical changes to her set up if this continues.
For Svitolina however, the future indeed looks bright, after winning her fourth WTA title this year, and now at a career high ranking of 14, the Ukrainian will be looking to make inroads towards the top ten. She moves on to face Ekaterina Makarova in the next round.