Will the Belarusian continue her strong start?
In the women’s singles of the 110th edition of the Australian Open, a real treat has already emerged in the third round when Victoria Azarenka, the overall winner in 2012 and 2013, clashes with Elina Svitolina, who became world champion on the WTA Tour in 2018 and won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo last summer. The match is likely to be correspondingly heated.
The Ukrainian has struggled at times in her two rounds so far, while the Belarusian has swept past her opponent in record time. In the run-up to the clash between Victoria Azarenka and Elina Svitolina, the odds are now swinging in the direction of the two-time overall winner of the Australian Open
The fact that Victoria Azarenka has won all four of her previous encounters with the Ukrainian is also in her favour. Most recently, the Belarusian beat Elina Svitolina 2-0 (6-2 and 6-4) in the quarter-finals on hard court at the WTA Doha 2021. However, to write off the strong Ukrainian prematurely could turn out to be a mistake.
Accordingly, we are taking the precaution of not betting on a win and recommend betting on a fiercely contested first set in which at least ten games are required before one player takes the lead.
Victoria Azarenka – Statistics & current form
Current ranking in the world: 25
Position in the seedings: 24
The 32-year-old Belarusian Victoria Azarenka showed early in her career that she would once be able to achieve great things. In 2005, she won the girls’ singles at both the Australian Open and the US Open.
Seven years later, at the tender age of 22, she was crowned Grand Slam champion for the first time in the women’s singles at the Australian Open, before successfully defending her title a year later.
Still among the world’s best after several compulsory breaks
Who knows how many Grand Slam trophies the lady from Minsk could have won in her career if she had not been embroiled in the protracted custody battle with her ex-partner between 2016 and 2018, which forced her to take repeated breaks because she was not allowed to leave the country while the case was ongoing.
Even after the next forced break due to the pandemic, however, Victoria Azarenka fought her way back to the top of the world and reached a Grand Slam final for the first time in seven years at the US Open in 2020, where she lost 2-1 to Naomi Osaka after leading 1-0.
In round two, Azarenka converted all four break points
Against all odds, the Belarusian has 21 singles titles on the WTA Tour to her name.
The WTA world number 25 dropped just nine games against Panna Udvardy and Jil Teichmann. Against the Swiss, she showed herself to be particularly ice-cold in her return game and steered the match on the right track early on with a 100% break point rate (four out of four).
Elina Svitolina – Statistics & current form
Current ranking in the World Ranking: 17
Position in the seedings: 15
The 27-year-old Ukrainian Elina Svitolina has also doggedly clung to the top of the world rankings in recent years and since 2015 it has been impossible to imagine the WTA World Ranking without her in the top 20.
In 2017, she won her first three major titles at WTA 1000 tournaments before being crowned world champion at the WTA Finals in 2018. Last summer, meanwhile, she snatched the bronze medal at the Olympics in Tokyo.
Eight times in a Grand Slam quarter-final
Only at Grand Slam tournaments has the Ukrainian, who married Gael Monfils last summer but recently amicably separated from the Frenchman, never made it to a final. With a Grand Slam record of 75 wins from the 110 singles matches she has played, she has already reached eight quarter-finals.
Here at Melbourne Park, the 27-year-old was among the top eight women in 2018 and 2019, something she would love to continue this season. To do so, however, she must now defeat one of her fearsome opponents.
Too many unforced errors in the second round
In four meetings so far, the Ukrainian has yet to win anything against the two-time Australian Open winner, which is why Victoria Azarenka’s betting on her entry into the last 16 against Elina Svitolina is not the best.
The 27-year-old’s poor record against the Belarusian is compounded by the fact that she was already working up a sweat in the second round against Harmony Tan and ultimately benefited from an injury to her opponent in the third set while committing a staggering 43 unforced errors.
Victoria Azarenka – Elina Svitolina Direct comparison / H2H record
Head to head: 4:0
Four times both women have faced each other on the world’s tennis courts and four times Victoria Azarenka has been victorious. The last time they met was in the 2021 WTA Doha quarter-finals, where the Belarusian won 2-0 (6-2 and 6-4).
Victoria Azarenka – Elina Svitolina Tip
When it comes to Victoria Azarenka against Elina Svitolina, the overall prediction is clearly for a win for the Belarusian, who not only clearly leads the head-to-head comparison, but who has also shown the clearly better performance in the tournament so far. However, if the Ukrainian, who was the 2018 World Champion, can reduce her error rate in the first rounds, she may well turn out to be a tough challenger
Betting on at least a hard-fought first set, where at least ten games are needed before one player takes the lead, is where we see the biggest value in this third-round highlight.
