No.6 seed Elina Svitolina has eased into the third round of the Australian Open with a straight-sets win over Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova.
After an undefeated run to win the WTA Finals in Singapore late last year, the Ukrainian shapes as a real chance to claim her first major title at Melbourne Park.
“That definitely brought me lots of confidence and showed I could play at a really high level,” said the 24-year-old Svitolina.
She needed just 67 minutes on Thursday to dispatch Kuzmova 6-4 6-1 and advance to a third-round clash with Czech Kristyna Pliskova or China’s Zhang Shuai.
No.29 seed Camila Giorgi from Italy took an even more straightforward path into the third round by belting Poland’s Iga Swiatek 6-2 6-0.