Elina Svitolina became the first Ukrainian woman to advance to the semifinals of the US Open by defeating British number one Johanna Konta 6-4 6-4 in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.
The 24-year-old Svitolina, at No.5 the highest seed in the quarterfinals, kept putting the ball back into play, so Konta piled up 35 unforced errors, added to 20 forced errors, trying to find the answer to the Ukrainian’s impressive returns. Also, Konta’s solid services games brought her to the final eight in New York, but against Svitolina her winning percentage on second serve was just 48.
In both sets the players traded three breaks of serve in Svitolina’s favor for a 4-3 lead and the world No.5 maintained the lead both times, improving her head-to-head record against the 16th-seeded Konta to 5-0 and spoiling the Briton’s hopes of becoming only the sixth active player to reach semifinal stage at all four majors.
Svitolina is now through to her second straight Grand Slam semifinal, where she will face the winner of the match between Serena Williams and Wang Qiang.
